Polio Update- Dr Rebecca Martin
Polio Update at the Rotary International Convention in Seoul Korea:
Dr Rebecca Martin, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention provides a 25 minute update on polio. To date there have been 16 cases of polio between Afghanistan (5) and Pakistan (11) in 2016.
- Thanks to the efforts of Rotarians there has been a dramatic increase in government accountability.
- Recruitment of women as volunteers to give the polio vaccine in their own communities has resulted in higher numbers of children receiving the vaccine.
- Between 17 April 2016 and 1 May 2016, the world marked a historic milestone with 155 countries and territories switching from trivalent to bivalent oral polio vaccine in a globally synchronized manner. This switch brings the world one big step closer to eradicating polio. This will eliminate the rare risk of vaccine-associated paralytic polio and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus.
- The advancement made in treating polio can be used to help eliminate other diseases such as measles.
Challenges:
- Keeping workers safe and engaged
- Addressing fears, misconceptions in appropriate ways
- Insecurity requires strong skills in keeping all workers safe