WHO Yemen: Every Door Matters: Yemen’s fight for a polio-free future

Aden, Yemen 

In the heart of Aden’s Crater district, two young sisters — Nehal, just 11 months old, and Nuha, 3 years old, received their polio vaccines as part of Yemen’s nationwide campaign to protect every child. Their mother welcomed the health worker with quiet relief. In a world full of uncertainty, safeguarding her daughters felt like a promise fulfilled.

Across Yemen, families are opening their doors in a powerful act of hope. On the other side stands a health worker, ready to deliver two drops that could change a child’s life forever.

For the health worker – Nagwa Ali – who knocked on Nehal and Nuha’s door, each child she vaccinates is part of a larger story. “Every door we knock on brings Yemen closer to a day without polio,” she says.

Conflict, barriers to access and misinformation make it hard to reach every child but Yemen’s health workers, with the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MoPHP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) at their side,  are finding ways to overcome the challenges. They travel far, reassure worried parents, and persist through every challenge.

“No child should suffer a disease we know how to prevent. Together, we can make polio history,” says WHO Representative in Yemen Dr Syed Jaffer Hussain.

Each time a child receive the vaccine Yemen moves closer to freedom from polio. Each knock on a door, each gentle conversation, each purple mark on a child’s finger is a step toward a healthier future.

The vital support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) makes it possible to deliver vaccines to the most vulnerable communities of Yemen, keep cold-chain systems running despite difficult conditions, train and equip thousands of health workers and sustain the tireless campaigns that keep hope alive.

With GPEI’s commitment and the unwavering determination of MoPHP, WHO and Yemen’s frontline vaccinators, the vision of a country free from polio is no longer distant. It is within reach for every child.