A virus loses the battle in Africa

Throughout my childhood years, a sudden onset of high-temperature fever was a constant in my life.  One moment I would be playing like any other kid, and the next I would be down with a scalding temperature.

One story that I have heard my mother narrate often was about how I was delirious and calling out the gods Krishna and Rama during one of those fevers when I was a kid.  She panicked that I was well on my way out of earth.

The one that I always remember is when I worried that I wouldn't be able to sit for the Class X exams, because I came down with one such sudden fever.  In the old country's system, missing the all-important end of year exams at the 10th or 12th grade would mess up one's life.  The doctor had a simple treatment protocol: Rest, and do not do any exam preparation.  As one who never cared to spend time prepping for exams, I found the doctor's recommendation to be useless ;)

The fever weakened me a great deal though.  So, for one exam, my father escorted me to the hall and sat outside ready--in case he had to rush me to the hospital.

All through those years of sudden fevers, one of the questions I was always asked was whether I experienced any pain in my legs.  If ever I said yes to that, the expression on my parents' faces conveyed well their worries. It was all because of a fear of polio.

I was fortunate that none of those episodes had anything to do with the poliovirus.

Two years ago, I blogged that most of the world is polio-free, except three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

Now we are down to one.

The remaining two are in South Asia, which means that the entire continent of Africa is now free of polio.

It is celebration time.

It took quite an effort in Nigeria where public health workers literally lost their lives in their efforts to vaccinate their kids.  The virus did not kill them; they were murdered by assassins who had been brainwashed into thinking that the polio drops were contaminated medicine!

Now, Africa has gotten rid of the damn virus.

Delivering polio vaccines to every child in the African region and wiping out the wild virus is no small feat, and the human resources, skills and experience gained in the process leave behind a legacy in how to tackle diseases and reach the poorest and most marginalised communities with lifesaving services. Leadership from all levels of government across party lines, a historic public-private partnership which raised billions, millions of health workers reaching children across the region - from conflict zones to remote areas only accessible by motorbike or helicopter - and a culture of continual improvement were all critical to overcoming challenges and bottlenecks. 

If the world is committed to doing the right thing, then we can move the proverbial mountains!

Polio and COVID-19 both demonstrate that the best ways to break the chains of disease transmission are working together in solidarity, accelerating the science and continually cooperating to solve problems on the ground and improve service delivery.

It is such an effort that will be needed to fight the coronavirus.  Unfortunately, tRump and his fellow sociopaths are running ruining the government.

For now, we will forget the sociopaths and just celebrate the victory in Africa.

And then there were three ...

Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbors. Why Nigeria, which is far away?

One word puts them in a special group: Polio.

“We are closer than we have ever been before to wiping out this virus. The next few months will tell us if we may be able to finish the job this year as this is the time when the virus is circulating"

Many of us here in the US and elsewhere suffer from the craziness that trump and his minions have been.   We have a president who openly questions whether vaccines are good!  Bill Gates says that the idiot-in-chief asked him about it--"he asked me if vaccines weren’t a bad thing because he was considering a commission to look into ill-effects of vaccines."  And what was Gates' response?  Gates said he told Trump, “that’s a dead end, that would be a bad thing, don’t do that.”  Had trump been the president back in the day, the US government might not have done anything regarding polio, small pox, ...

Thankfully, trump has come about during the end stage of the fight against polio.  Pakistan is inching towards zero.  One of those instances in real life when we begin to appreciate the mathematical idea of "tends to zero" but not yet zero. Perhaps the country might have wiped out the virus if the US had not recruited a Pakistani doctor to help find Osama bin Laden by having him carry out a fake vaccination campaign.

As we get closer and closer to eradicating polio, we need to pause and think about one of the most remarkable aspects of the vaccine: Jonas Salk did not patent the polio vaccine that he created.  He chose not to patent it.

Actually is is only two--Pakistan and Afghanistan. Because, Nigeria has not recorded a case of polio for 20 months since 2016.

If the country can make it to three years, plus a few extra months as an epidemiological cushion, it will be certified polio-free, which will also mean that the entire continent of Africa is clear of the disease. 

Imagine that; the African continent could be officially polio free in a year.  The entire continent.

Against such a backdrop, we have our eyes set on the November elections.  But, 2018 will be far more historic than a Democratic takeover of Congress if there are no new polio cases in 2019.  A big fucking deal, as Joe Biden once remarked!

The fight against polio turns deadly. Literally. For the workers

Throughout my childhood years, running a fever was a constant event in my life.  One moment I would be playing like any other kid, and the next I would be down with a scalding temperature.

(My parents and I worried that I wouldn't be able to sit for the Class X exams, when I came down with one such fever.  For one exam, father escorted me to the hall and sat outside ready--in case he had to rush me to the hospital.)

One of the questions I was always asked was whether I experienced any pain in my legs.  And the worried look on my parents' faces if ever I said yes to that.

It was all because of a fear of polio.

I was fortunate, and so were millions of my cohort and later on.  In 2012, India registered its first year of no polio cases at all.  A Himalayan feat, indeed!

It is a phenomenal achievement that even within my life time, this dangerous disease is now close to being wiped out.  Very close, with only three countries remaining.

One of the final battles against this virus is being fought in Nigeria.  Two days ago, that medical battle turned lethal for nine polio vaccinators, not because of the virus but because of humans:

In the first attack in Kano the polio vaccinators were shot dead by gunmen who drove up on a motor tricycle.
Thirty minutes later gunmen targeted a clinic outside Kano city as the vaccinators prepared to start work.

How awful!  Simply insane.

Why did this happen?

On Thursday, a controversial Islamic cleric spoke out against the polio vaccination campaign, telling people that new cases of polio were caused by contaminated medicine.
Such opposition is a major reason why Nigeria is one of just three countries where polio is still endemic.
But this is believed to be the first time polio vaccinators have been attacked in the country.

Let us hope this will be the last instance too.

How and why do those vaccinators work in those areas of Nigeria?  Bill Gates, whose foundation--along with his wife Melinda, and Warren Buffett--has been working on this ever since he turned his attention to philanthropy, writes in his annual letter:

One huge problem the polio program found was that many small settlements in the region were missing from vaccinators' hand-drawn maps and lists documenting the location of villages and numbers of children. As a result, children weren't getting vaccinated. Often villages on the border between two maps weren't assigned to any team. To make matters worse, the estimated distance between villages was sometimes off by miles, making it impossible for some vaccinators to do the job they were assigned.
To fix this, the polio workers walked through all high-risk areas in the northern part of the country. Step by step, they explored these areas and spoke with people, adding 3,000 communities to the immunization campaigns. 

It was nine of such public health workers who were killed.  Those bastards responsible for the killings don't deserve anything but the harshest punishment.

Of course, polio is only one of the health challenges that humans, especially children, face.  If only we could spend more on global health issues, instead of wasting the money on the militaries of the world, particularly here in the US!

BTW, here is Bill Gates admitting to his geeky nature on the Colbert Report, in the context of his annual letter.

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