The Corona Virus will end with people like Nayyar
Ever wondered how the Corona virus will end? What have we learnt from a previous global virus?
Here's how one amazing person and her team receiving support from the Rotary Global Polio Project to eliminate this virus....
Dr. Ujala Nayyar dreams, both figuratively and literally, about a world that is free from polio. Nayyar, the World Health Organization's surveillance officer in Pakistan’s Punjab province, says she often imagines the outcome of her work in her sleep.
In her waking life, she leads a team of health workers who crisscross Punjab to hunt down every potential incidence of poliovirus, testing sewage and investigating any reports of paralysis that might be polio. Pakistan is one of just two countries that continue to report cases of polio caused by the wild virus.
In addition to the challenges of polio surveillance, Nayyar faces substantial gender-related barriers that, at times, hinder her team's ability to count cases and take environmental samples. From households to security checkpoints, she encounters resistance from men. But her tactic is to push past the barriers with a balance of sensitivity and assertiveness.
"I'm not very polite," Nayyar said with a chuckle during an interview at Rotary's World Polio Day last year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. "We don't have time to be stopped. Ending polio is urgent and time-sensitive."
Women are critical in the fight against polio, Nayyar says. About 56 percent of frontline workers in Pakistan are women. More than 70 percent of mothers in Pakistan prefer to have women vaccinate their children.
That hasn't stopped families from slamming doors in health workers' faces, though. When polio is detected in a community, teams have to make repeated visits to each home to ensure that every child is protected by the vaccine. Multiple vaccinations add to the skepticism and anger that some parents express. It's an attitude that Nayyar and other health workers deal with daily.
"You can't react negatively in those situations. It's important to listen. Our female workers are the best at that," says Nayyar.
With polio on the verge of eradication, surveillance activities, which, Nayyar calls the "back of polio eradication", have never been more important.
Nayyar calls on Rotary for the everyday things that she and her team needs to do their job, everything from the vaccine, to bus tickets, train tickets, umbrella's, accommodation, clothing, basic essentials, educational equipment, everything that these amazing women need to do their job. "I ask Rotary and its there" says Nayyar.