Surveillance Medical Officers - World Health Organization (India)
I was commissioned by the World Health Organization (SEARO) in 2006 to visually document the work done by their Surveillance Medical Officers (SMOs) in South Asia. These SMOs are medical doctors who are out in the field throughout the year, monitoring and fighting the spread of vaccine preventable diseases like polio, Japanese encephalitis, measles among others.
Despite their vital contribution, their existence and importance is not that well known outside of the World Health Organization. I was asked to photograph their work to highlight the difficult terrains these doctors work in and to show the general nature of their work.
As part of the assignment I travelled to different parts of Western Uttar Pradesh (India), rural Bangladesh and to Terai Nepal.
