TY - JOUR T1 - The Untold Story of Community Mobilizers Re-engaging a Disengaged Community During the Endemic Era of India's Polio Eradication Program JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - S6 LP - S8 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00425 VL - 9 IS - Supplement 1 AU - Roma Solomon Y1 - 2021/03/15 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/9/Supplement_1/S6.abstract N2 - Key MessagesPrograms, no matter how vital, cannot be pushed into communities without proper information preceding them.People are suspicious of handouts especially when there is no rapport with the service providers. Misinformation will lead to suspicion and refusals.Good public health infrastructure engenders trust between the health service providers and communities.Policy makers need to realize that even the most disenfranchised have entitlements.Communication skills among the frontline workers are a must.Program managers would do well to interact with the decision makers in the community and take their inputs before planning any intervention.In 1995, the India polio eradication program began in earnest as the Pulse Polio Initiative, targeting all children under 5 years old. The program dispensed the oral polio vaccine to children nationwide through campaigns at kiosks set up at fixed sites twice a year. The vaccine was badly needed because in the mid-1990s, an estimated 150,000 polio cases were reported annually in India.1,2 Starting with a well-advertised flourish, the campaign drew crowds. Because polio was a dreaded and visible disease, people were eager to get their children protected and came willingly.However, it soon became apparent that many children were being missed in these national immunization campaigns.3 In 1999, the government decided to send frontline health workers (FLWs), such as auxiliary nurse-midwives and other government-trained workers, as vaccinators to people's houses. The door-to-door campaign triggered larger scale suspicion because of the government's previous family planning efforts at the cost of other public health and sanitation improvements. Local suspicion was fueled by the fact that children were still becoming paralyzed by polio after being vaccinated.2 In my personal conversations with community members, I realized that people seemed to be suspicious of government intentions when the polio vaccine was made available at their doorsteps … ER -