"This is a devastating disease for children. It cripples. It maims. It occasionally kills. Children in particular have a miserable life affected by polio. These are the crawlers on the street. These are people begging for food. They really don't have much of a future, and I think we can provide them with a good future, just by a simple vaccination." - USAID Worldwide Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn Ogden
The Fight Against Polio
Churches and shrines, such as this one in Ethiopia, may be the first places to see a child with polio. Shrine keepers are trained in how to report the case to health authorities.
Gaining the support of Islamic clerics has been instrumental in overcoming false rumors that the vaccine is a plot to harm Muslim children.
In a remote village in Ethiopia, this girl shows all of the signs of acute flaccid paralysis - the signal condition for polio.
External monitoring to verify the quality of the immunization coverage and community acceptance of vaccination is critical to the success of polio eradication.
These vaccinators are among the 20 million volunteers working on polio eradication around the world.
Polio virus spreads through fecal-oral transmission. Open sewers, such as this one in Uttar Pradesh, India, are areas where children walk and play. Virus is easily spread to unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children in these conditions.
Careful checking of abandoned houses, while looking for booby-traps and landmines, revealed thousands of children who otherwise would have been missed during the vaccine campaign.
A constant reminder of the many wars fought in Afghanistan, the supports for this bridge are made from old tanks. Reaching children in conflict areas is one of the greatest challenges to polio eradication.
Corrective treatment is often not available and children grow up with contorted and constricted limbs.
Crossing a log bridge in Abia State Nigeria to reach a remote, mountainous area during a monitoring visit.