KUSHESHWAR ASTHAN PURBI, Bihar
There is a place in India where the road ends. It isn't even a proper road - the last six kilometers coming into the town are sometimes thick mud. If you are unlucky enough to have to travel here in the rainy season, you have to walk the final stretch, because a jeep will not take you.
Beyond this little town in Bihar, known as Kusheshwar Asthan Purbi, lies the flooded area of the Kosi River. The only way onward from here is by boat. Electricity does not travel this far.
This is one of the places where the World Health Organization and Unicef have opened satellite offices as part of their polio eradication campaign in India.
Without an office here, the polio vaccine would never reach more than 200 villages scattered on the flood plain of the river. Bihar is considered a high-risk state for polio outbreaks, and the hardships faced by the volunteers are readily apparent here.
I traveled to Kusheshwar Asthan Purbi in September, and spent seven days in Bihar, documenting the polio eradication program during the last immunization round. The images were commissioned by Unicef as part of its documentation of the polio program in India. They will be part of an upcoming book, “The SNID,†for Sub National Immunization Day, which is scheduled for publication in February. The book will showcase the success of the polio immunization campaign in India as an example for the other countries still struggling with the disease.
Sephi Bergerson is an Israeli-born photographer who has lived and worked in India since 2002 and photographed the country's polio eradication campaign since 2004. His first book, “Street Food of India,†won several international awards; his next, “The Great Indian Wedding,†is scheduled for publication in early 2013. More information is available on his blog, Fotowala.
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