What is that Polio Picture? This picture shows a lasting symbol of the battle against Polio.  The iron lung helped many survive who were stricken by this paralyzing disease.  A few Polio Survivors still live fruitful lives with the help of the iron lung – including Paul Alexander from Texas shown here.   You can learn more about Paul Alexander from the June 2018 story by Associated Press HERE.

 A Win Against Polio is a Win for Global Health!

How Many Children have we saved from the paralysis of Polio?
That number has now reached 20 Million! That’s a number to celebrate and to share!

2021 Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Cases – 98 – Afghanistan – 39 (308 in 2020), Angola – 0 (3 in 2020),Benin – 1 (3 in 2020), Burkina Faso – 1 (62 in 2020), Cameroon – 0 (7 in 2020), CAR – 0 (4 in 2020), Chad – 0 (99 in 2020), Congo – 2 (2 in 2020), Cote d’ Ivoire – 0 (72 in 2020), DRC – 7 (81 in 2020), Ethiopia – 0 (26 in 2020), Ghana – 0 (11 in 2020), Guinea – 5 (44 in 2020), Liberia – 2 (0 in 2020),Madagascar – 4 (2 in 2020), Mali – 0 (48 in 2020), Malaysia – 0 (1 in 2020),  Niger – 0 (8 in 2020), Nigeria – 8 (8 in 2020), Pakistan – 8 (135 in 2020), Philippines – 0 (1 in 2020), Senegal  – 4 (0 in 2020) ,Sierra Leone – 4 (10 in 2020), Somalia – 0 (13 in 2020), South Sudan – 6 (50 in 2020), Sudan – 0 (58 in 2020), Tajikistan – 6 (1 in 2020), Togo – 0 (9 in 2020), and Yemen – 2 (33 in 2020).

A total of 1,087 Vaccine Derived Polio cases were reported in 26 countries in 2020.

Quote of the Day

“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher, 1770-1831

The Final Two Polio Endemic Countries:

0 new Polio cases reported this past week.
1 Wild Polio case – 2021. The most recent cases had an onset of paralysis on 1/1/21.
56 Wild Polio cases – 2020.  No WPV1 & CVDPV2-Positive Environmental Samples were reported this week in Afghanistan.

Our Goal is Global Polio Eradication!!

Terry Ziegler, Endowment/Major Gifts Adviser Rotary Region 36