story by: jean-marc giboux

As a freelance photographer, I was looking for a great story for the new ​millennium when I read an article in the Chicago Tribune in 1997 about the drive ​to eradicate polio. I noticed a local connection: Rotary.

I called Rotary and the organisation gave me a grant to cover the story. The ​Rotary team picked five places in the world for me to visit. Starting in 1997, I ​spent a year traveling to Turkey, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, and the U.S. Centers for ​Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

At the end of my travels, Life magazine picked up the story and published it in the ​November 1998 issue.

I went on to cover the polio eradication effort for 18 years. I kept the subject ​fresh by trying to link polio eradication with major events happening in the ​world. For example, I decided to see the polio vaccinations in 2004 during the ​conflict in the Darfur region in Sudan.

There were more than 200,000 refugees in Chad on the border with Sudan. Just ​getting there was very difficult. I had a contact with Doctors Without Borders — ​the group was handling health care on the border. I stayed in tents with doctors ​and nurses in the camp for a week. I would follow them on their daily routine to ​do the vaccinations.

It was interesting to get to see what was happening in people’s private spaces. ​The polio programme allowed me to get into those places.

I was impressed by the way the polio campaign was done from the bottom up. It ​reminds me of an ant colony working together. Its teachers, nurses, health ​workers, anybody. It’s a pretty simple vaccination to give, and so everybody’s ​involved. Hundreds of thousands of people are contributing.

Jean-Marc Giboux speaks more about his experiences as a photographer covering ​polio eradication on the Rotary Voices podcast. Listen at on.rotary.org/podcast

Boy on merry-go-round:

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1997

At the time I took this photo, there weren’t too many places for kids who had ​polio to receive treatment. The Cheshire Home, part of a worldwide network, was ​giving them reconstructive surgery and a place to live. What I love about this ​photo is that kids are kids. The child’s legs had to be reconstructed, but he’s ​having a blast on the playground like any other kid.

Kids in blue smocks sitting on bench:

Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1998

This is one of my favourite photos. I was on my first assignment with the World ​Health Organization. As in Ethiopia, the Cheshire Home was a place for kids with ​polio. There were no parents there. The children were in a big estate surrounded ​by walls, and outside those walls a civil war was raging. What always stayed with ​me about this is that it was such a haven of peace, of retreat, for them to be ​there. I had to be evacuated because the war was worsening. I don’t know what ​happened to them afterwards.

Kids’ legs with polio supports and crutches:

Delhi, India 1998

At the Amar Jyoti Research and Rehabilitation Centre there is an integrated ​school where children with polio study alongside children who don’t have polio. ​This photo was striking because of the condition of their legs. It was such an ​intense picture when you see how they got reconstructive surgery. Their legs are ​supported by metal rods; they get shoes, but they still need crutches. They are ​the lucky ones. They are getting an education.

A bunch of insulated boxes:

Delhi, India 2004

This photo of insulated boxes captures a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the ​campaign — the importance of the cold chain in the drive to eradicate polio. The ​polio vaccine is cheap to produce, but it has to be kept cold all the way to ​delivery. That is one of the biggest challenges of the campaign, because in some ​places there is no electricity. So everywhere I went there were always those ice ​boxes. From Africa to Asia to everywhere, always the same small boxes.

Girl taking a ticket from seated man:

Herat province, Afghanistan 2002

I was following teams of vaccinators just after the fall of the Taliban, when there ​were a couple of years where it was easier to travel around Afghanistan. Over ​100,000 people lived in the Maslakh settlement, where displaced people from ​within the country came to stay. There was a food distribution centre where they ​would line up for hours. That’s where you’d find the children. You could see who ​was vaccinated in the camp and who wasn’t by looking for the marking on their ​finger. That little girl in the centre of the picture is getting a ticket to be in the ​food line.

Big group of nurses in striped clothing:

Mathura district, India 2015

This photo of nurses and health workers at the Farah Community Health Centre ​is from the first anniversary of a polio-free India. When the end of polio was ​celebrated, of course it happened in New Delhi with the cabinet ministers. But ​the really hard work was being done by hundreds of thousands of workers going ​by foot door to door. The lines, the visuals, the composition makes the

picture beautiful.

Boy in line for school with eyes closed:

New Delhi, India 2004

The Akshya Pratisthan school is another private school that provides education ​and rehabilitation in an integrated environment. When I go into places like this, ​I’m taking a lot of pictures. In this one, they’re lining up to pray before school. It’s ​a nice environment — it’s early morning and there’s beautiful light. The photo’s ​composition is more geometric and drives you to the boy’s face.