Drone Strikes and Vaccination Campaigns

Abstract

The frontier area of Afghanistan and Pakistan is one of the few remaining places on earth where polio continues to cripple and kill children. It is therefore an area of intense focus for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. During the Bush and Obama administrations, it has also been the area where the United Statesconducted the most drone strikes, targeting insurgents, but killing thousands of civilians as well. This chapter explores how the US-led war created suspicion and ill will toward internationally supported health programming, even though that programming has no connection with drone strikes. The damage done by drone strikes to community trust in public health programs is likely to last long into the future.