Ellyn Ogden Awarded for Heroism Fighting Polio
FrontLines - February 2009
Ellyn Ogden has walked through the front lines between Congolese troops and guerrillas to vaccinate young children against polio.
She has negotiated with armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Afghanistan, and many other regions—convincing them to cease fighting for a few days so teams could vaccinate millions of children.
In January, she was honored with the USAID Award for Heroism. The award recognizes a staffer for acts of valor and courage or outstanding performance
under difficult or dangerous
conditions.
Ellyn Ogden holds a premature baby in Afghanistan.
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“Polio doesn’t wait for peace,” Ogden said. “You have to vaccinate even in conflict. Reaching children in times of conflict is a challenge.
“For example, during the fighting in eastern D.R. Congo in 2000 people were displaced and health workers were afraid to move. There is suspicion as to why they move, what they carry, why they go house to house.
“I was asked to go to D.R. Congo because I was seen as a credible emissary to discuss with various factions at a higher leadership
level what polio eradication
was about, what was the experience at local levels with cease fires, and to hammer out a system so commanders would send orders down the chain for days of tranquility to allow safe passage for vaccinators and allow children to be immunized.”
At the headquarters of the three main factions, each agreed to a vaccination truce. “We crossed the lines and had back-channel arrangements done with knowledge of the U.S. ambassador
in Kinshasa and the D.R. Congo government,” Ogden said.
Agreement was reached on the dates of the immunization campaigns, how the vaccine would be transported and the need to assure the vaccine remained chilled so it did not spoil. All the logistics information
was to be passed down the chain of command so there would be no misunderstandings.
“I came with data slides—my maps of polio,” said Ogden. “I said I was only there for polio and did not engage in any discussion
outside of polio. I kept very focused.”
Since 1997, Ogden has been the Agency’s worldwide polio eradication coordinator. She spends about 40 percent of her time overseas—away from her husband and two sons—as she battles fresh outbreaks of the crippling disease. In Washington, working closely with the regional bureaus and missions, she manages
the Agency’s $32 million polio budget.
Polio is a highly contagious virus that invades the nervous system. In the worst cases, it can cause paralysis, permanent disability,
and death. When global eradication began in 1988, there were 125 countries with 350,000 cases of childhood paralysis each year, Ogden said. To date, the U.S. government has provided
about a quarter of the funding to the effort.
By 2000, polio was wiped out in much of Asia and Africa. But four countries never stopped transmission—India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
In 2003, superstition and rumors led officials in northern Nigeria to halt polio vaccinations
and the disease quickly re-infected people in 12 countries. Ogden helped negotiate a resumption of the vaccination program.
Eradication programs are especially tough because all children under age 5 must be vaccinated at least seven to 10 times, and in some countries, even more, to stop poliovirus transmission. Each case of paralysis means possibly 200 other infections without any symptoms.
Afghanistan and Pakistan share a common strain of poliovirus
which moves easily between the two countries as people frequently migrate across the border. This year, partly due to insecurity and poor quality vaccination campaigns,
polio spread throughout Pakistan. So Ogden is working on improving the quality of campaigns to reach children there and to minimize international
spread of the virus.
“People ask me ‘Why polio? We have so many other health problems.’” Ogden said. “The answer is we have the money, equipment, and an effective vaccine.
This is something we can do now. We have a 13 cents-a-dose vaccine that works. Polio eradication is do-able in a short time if everyone works together.”
“My heart is in the field, in the villages, searching for children
to immunize,” she added. “I spend a lot of time in the field with the teams going door to door, making sure they ask for kids, how many, where are they, when they are coming back. We can’t make a half-hearted effort to eradicate polio.”
★ - B.B.
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