Al Shabaab militants have targeted non-Somali communities and government workers living in remote areas of northern Kenya. Health workers who came from outside the area have long since fled their remote outposts for fear of attack, abduction and even beheadings.

This has left the region’s pastoralist communities – who like generations before them herd camels and goats across these arid borderlands – to fend for themselves in the face of a pandemic. Breaking down cultural barriers in these conservative, ethnic Somali communities, it is women who have taken up the challenge.

The women purchased a solar-powered radio to replace their battery-powered one, cheaper to maintain in a region where electricity is scarce. Women from all the different village associations have formed an umbrella group to engage local authorities in the main town of Garissa. As well as security protection, they need the solar power systems and coolers crucial for storing the vaccine.

Read more: Nation