Katherine Hahn, End Polio Chair, Stratford afternoon Club spoke to us. Katherine spoke of the teacher she knew that had polio; that lead her to be an advocate for Polio eradication during the previous 30 years. Please see screenshots of Katherine in India. Her son Evan went with her. Rotarians help in 3rd world conditions without imposing western world standards. After eradication, the vaccine will be transferred to the killed vaccine injectable which is good for 25 years. She recommended a Netflix video "Saawan" https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81160036 that demonstrates that people with Polio are treated like animals, begging to survive or locked away. The following screenshot demonstrates their appalling conditions: Africa was declared polio-free during August; 2 more countries that take us to the poorest of the poor remain with small numbers of cases. Strategies for dealing with Polio include hunting for the disease, strategizing, advocating for victims, and immunizing against polio. Polio is an incurable viral disease with similarities to COVID. We can be pleased that our contributions to the Polio eradication program mean lessons learned and infrastructure are in place to deal with COVID. The following are notes by the editor taken from the publication "Global Citizen" "What Lessons We can Learn from Polio Eradication in Tackling COVID 19" : Global institutions are partnering and cooperating. Rotary Internatioal is one of six organizations, the others are Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), WHO, CDC, UNICEF, Gates Foundation. There are 20 million GPEI volunteers. Testing and detection Programs As with Polio, COVID programs use surveillance systems that test sewage and drinking water sources. Planning for immunization programs and Contact Tracing programs can be transferred to COVID. With Polio, 90% of the infected are asymptomatic carriers; the percentage of COVID 19 infected with mild symptoms is 80%. .5% of Polio victims become paralyzed; 1% of COVID cases die.
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