Nukta
Polio worker faces family threats after reporting sexual assault
Removed from husband's house and relocated to safe place
For nearly a decade, Sajida* has been administering anti-polio drops to children under 5 years in Pakistan.
She is part of a network of 300,000 frontline health workers in the country who go door-to-door to give this life-saving drug to children.
Earlier this month, while she was working in Jacobabad, a city in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh, someone put a gun to her head, forced her into the bushes, and raped her. One person held her down, while another filmed the assault.
Sajida alerted the authorities, who rescued her and reported the crime.
For her act of courage, her husband threatened to kill her, saying she had brought shame to the family.
Police have since made a string of arrests. Her husband, brother-in-law, and nephew are in police custody for threatening to kill her.
The key suspect was also arrested, but two others remain at large.
Inadequate security
Her lawyer, Nisar Mugheri, said the state failed to provide his client with adequate security.
"A DNA report was submitted to the court, and it matched with the rapist," he told Nukta by phone, adding that the accused belong to a powerful tribe in the area and Sajida's life is under threat.
Mugheri said that after the assault, police pressured her to change her statement, saying she had been robbed but not sexually assaulted.
"When the case came to the attention of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Mian Soomro, who is influential in the area, he contacted me because I am his legal adviser," the lawyer said. "My team visited her house and assured her we are on her side."
Sajida has been removed from her husband’s house and is in a safe location.
Despite recurrent attacks on health workers, many of whom are women, Sajida had been working in the field without police protection.
"The incident occurred in Nawra district, where some pockets are considered no-go areas due to the law and order situation," Abdul Rehman Afridi, a local journalist, told Nukta.
A health worker marks the finger of a child after he receives the anti-polio vaccine Reuters
Shockwaves
The attack has caused shockwaves because such sexual assaults are rare, though anti-polio drives in Pakistan are often marred by violence.
In a statement, Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho said: “Our female polio workers are the backbone of the polio program, and protecting them has always been the utmost priority of the program. I am taking every necessary action to ensure she gets the justice she deserves.”
In recent days, there have been several dismissals of top security and health officials who oversaw the vaccination campaign.
“As a result, the deputy commissioner of Jacobabad, the senior superintendent of police in Jacobabad, and the district health officer in Jacobabad have been removed from their positions,” according to a government statement.
Pakistan's anti-polio drive receives funds from international donors like the World Health Organization and Unicef, and the latest case would likely cause a reaction.
A polio worker on duty with her cold chain vaccine bagReuters
Working in Perilous Conditions
The exact number of attacks on polio workers is difficult to compile, but estimates suggest 70 to 100 have been killed in the line of duty since 2012.
There have also been incidents of kidnappings and harassment.
A segment of society still views the anti-polio vaccination drive as a Western plot to sterilize children.
"This thought prevalent in the society that the anti-polio vaccination drive is a Western conspiracy also reflects in how they view health workers," said Fahmida Riaz, a researcher on gender-based violence.
These frontline health workers are vulnerable, often face harassment and work for stipends as low as 1,200 Pakistani rupees ($4) a day, she added.
Pakistan has reported its 22nd case of polio this year.
The country reported no new infections for over a year starting in 2021, the longest virus-free stretch so far, before an uptick in cases.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the virus remains endemic.
Polio spreads from person to person, and the only way to prevent it is through mass vaccination.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy.
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