Heroes from the Field: Q&A with Dr. Asm Amjad Hossain

As Bill Gates wrote in his post, "A Hero in the Battle Against Polio," about Dr. Asm Amjad Hossain, "Most people have heard of Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk, and Albert Sabin, whose innovative research years ago led to the creation of the first vaccines to protect against rabies, cholera, and polio. Discovering a new vaccine is a remarkable achievement, but getting those vaccines into some of the toughest places on earth is also an extraordinary accomplishment."

This is why the 2012 Gates Vaccine Innovation Award recognizes the work of Dr. Hossain, a former district immunization and surveillance medical officer in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has made tremendous strides in improving child health. Childhood deaths have been reduced by 65 percent since 1990, an amazing achievement. National immunization of children is a high priority there, and the number of one-year-old children immunized is consistently high, often higher than industrialized nations.

We asked Dr. Hossain a few questions to get more insight into his background, why he does this important work, and his plans for the future.

Why did you decide to put your professional energy towards vaccines for children?

During my internship training, after my graduation in medicine, I found there were many diseases which cannot be cured. For some diseases there are treatments, but they can be very costly and sometimes cannot deliver desirable relief to patients. For example, I found many young patients suffering from liver cirrhosis or cancer due to hepatitis B virus infections during their childhood. I realized that it is far better to prevent diseases rather than let them attack people. This feeling directed me to work in preventive medicine rather than in a curative field.

Through this work, I can reach the poor people in villages, who need care the most. Little interventions, like vaccines, can definitely achieve very good results for them.

Why are vaccines important?

In 1988 there were about 350,000 polio cases around the world. But now cases have been reduced to several hundred.  This achievement is a testament to the huge impact vaccination campaigns at the global scale can have. 

Vaccination efforts to protect against smallpox and polio are the largest health efforts in history, which led to the eradication of smallpox in 1980, and the almost total elimination of polio today. So, we can simply say that vaccines can bring miraculous change to society around the globe.  We can continue to bring about these improvements in health with minimum resources and effort.

Although the achievements toward polio eradication are remarkable, the achievements to date will be threatened if we don’t eradicate it totally. Other vaccines continue to protect children from life-threatening diseases every day. We need to ensure that all children have access to the vaccines they need.

Can you tell us a brief story about one particular family or child that you remember working with at that time?

I believe people will eagerly take vaccines if they understand the advantages of immunizations.

Six years ago, I was working in Tangail district in Bangladesh. One day I went to supervise a local immunization site. When I was reviewing the register, I found one female child who was born six months ago but had not been vaccinated at all. I asked the vaccinator why this child was not vaccinated. The vaccinator replied that he had tried to motivate the family by working with the local leader but the family still refused to vaccinate the child.

I went to the house and I found the mother making thread out of cotton with a spinning wheel. After we exchanged greetings, I asked her about her job and other things about their lives. When we became a bit more acquainted, I asked her why they did not vaccinate their daughter. She said that they had been expecting a male child this time, but her daughter was the fourth female child for the family.

The parents were angry with their fate, and that’s why they didn’t want to vaccinate the child.

I shared with her that I have only one daughter and I am so proud of her. It shouldn’t matter whether a child is female or male. The main thing is that the child should be in good health, educated, and hope they become a good person.

I told her that if they do not vaccinate their daughter and by chance she became infected by polio, she could be crippled for life. In that case, she would likely become a great burden on the family. We said our goodbyes and I returned to the immunization site. Just 30 minutes later, the mother arrived have the baby girl vaccinated. It was an amazing situation.

I believe that if we approach this work with the right intentions and take the time to listen to their reasons for resisting, they will appreciate how important vaccines are and will make the right decisions for their families.

What was it like for you to win the Gates Vaccine Innovation Award?

I have worked in t