Podcast appearances and mentions of Bruce Aylward

Psoda chief everything officer Bruce Aylward discusses how portfolio prioritisation tools provide clarity and transparency in order to pick the right initiatives to do at the right time, as well as understand the risks and benefits of each investment before starting work. Also, how a digital tool helps to deliver those initiatives, reducing the risk of failure.

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The Power Panel weighs in on Alberta's throne speech and the newly-tabled Alberta legislation. Plus, Dr. Bruce Aylward, a World Health Organization senior adviser discusses how the world is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, including China's zero COVID approach. And Anna Zaitseva, a Ukrainian survivor of the seige of Mariupol, on her family's harrowing ordeal.

Covid-19 has dominated our lives for almost two years. Vaccines have been developed in record time, yet nearly half the world's population has not received a single dose. What has gone wrong?Imogen Foulkes is joined in this podcast episode by global health and policy experts.“How do you solve this in the longer term? You don't want to be in this situation when this happens again. This could happen next month, if the wrong variant comes out,” says Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the director-general at the World Health Organization (WHO).The new Omicron Covid variant now threatens to undo earlier progress. Do we need a global pandemic treaty?“We have not managed to ensure equitable access. We have left decisions to narrow national interests and to commercial decision-making,” says Michelle Childs, head of policy and advocacy at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). “We need to be optimistic. We must be optimistic. It's in everyone's interest to get out of this pandemic,” says Federica Zamatto, a medical coordinator at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K252: About COVID - 疫情期間降低的出生率或許已經好轉   While there has been a decline in births in the U.S. during the pandemic, a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau suggests the drop may have turned a corner last March as births started rebounding. 儘管美國的出生率在疫情大流行期間一度降低，但美國人口調查與統計局週二發表的一份新報告顯示，出生率的降低問題或許已經好轉，因為3月出生率開始反彈。 "This trend suggests that some people who postponed having babies last year had them this year," said Anne Morse, a Census Bureau demographer in the report. 「這股趨勢意味著，一些去年延後生小孩的人，今年有了寶寶」，美國人口調查與統計局人口學家安妮．摩斯在報告中說。 "The winter decrease in births may have been prompted by couples who consciously chose to delay having children amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. It may also have been influenced by stress or limited physical interaction with a sexual partner." 「冬季出生率降低，或許是由於夫妻在疫情的不確定中，自覺地選擇延後生孩子所造成，或許也受到壓力，或者與性伴侶身體上親密互動受限的影響」。   Next Article   Topic: Covid to continue till 2022: WHO世衛：Covid疫情將持續至2022年   The Covid pandemic will "go on for a year longer than it needs to" because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. 世界衛生組織（WHO）稱，由於貧窮國家無法獲得所需的疫苗，冠狀病毒病（Covid ）大流行將「不可避免地延長1年」。 Dr Bruce Aylward, senior leader at the WHO, said it meant the Covid crisis could "easily drag on deep into 2022". 世衛組織高層領導人布魯斯‧艾爾沃德博士表示，這意味著Covid危機可能「很容易拖延到2022年」。 Less than 5% of Africa's population have been vaccinated, compared to 40% on most other continents. 非洲只有不到5％人口接種疫苗，其他大多數大陸的比例為40％。 Dr Aylward appealed to wealthy countries to give up their places in the queue for vaccines in order that pharmaceutical companies can prioritise the lowest-income countries instead. 艾爾沃德博士博士呼籲富裕國家放棄他們在疫苗隊列中的位置，讓製藥公司可以優先向最貧窮國家供應疫苗。 The People's Vaccine - an alliance of charities - has released new figures suggesting just one in seven of the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies and wealthy countries are actually reaching their destinations in poorer countries. 慈善機構聯盟「人民的疫苗」發佈的新數據顯示，製藥公司和富裕國家承諾捐贈的疫苗，只有7分之1真正送達貧困國家的目的地。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1479693 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1482013

VACCIN : VOUS REPRENDREZ BIEN UNE 3e DOSE – 24/08/21 Pr ANNE-CLAUDE CRÉMIEUX Professeure en maladies infectieuses - Hôpital Saint-Louis Membre de l'Académie de Médecine Pr BRUNO MÉGARBANE Chef du service réanimation – Hôpital Lariboisière NICOLAS BERROD Journaliste – « Le Parisien » NATHALIE SAINT-CRICQ Éditorialiste politique - « France Télévisions » Pr BRUNO LINA – En direct de Lyon Virologue – CHU de Lyon Membre du Conseil scientifique Une dose de rappel « pour les personnes de 65 ans et plus, ainsi que pour toutes les personnes présentant des comorbidités augmentant le risque » lié au Covid. La Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) a donc donné son feu vert au gouvernement aujourd'hui pour lancer la campagne de la « troisième dose » dès septembre, comme l'espérait le ministre de la Santé, Olivier Véran. Il s'agit des publics fragiles déjà prioritaires pour le vaccin contre la grippe saisonnière. La HAS suggère d'ailleurs d'injecter cette dose en même temps que le vaccin contre la grippe. Un délai d'au moins six mois devra être respecté entre la fin du schéma vaccinal complet et l'administration de cette nouvelle dose. Cette campagne de rappel est d'ores et déjà en cours en Israël, où la troisième dose de vaccin produit déjà des résultats encourageants. Aux Etats-Unis, une troisième dose de vaccin sera proposée dès le 20 septembre pour tous les adultes. Mais cette décision des pays riches de s'offrir ce luxe est critiquée par l'OMS. « Il y a suffisamment de vaccins dans le monde, mais ils ne vont pas aux bons endroits dans le bon ordre », a commenté le conseiller du directeur général de l'OMS, Bruce Aylward. L'OMS recommande d'atteindre une couverture vaccinale complète dans les régions présentant une faible couverture vaccinale avant de lancer des campagnes de rappel dans les pays à revenu plus élevé. La circulation du variant Delta dans ces zones favorise en effet la transmission et la mutation du virus. En France, la rentrée qui se profile inquiète toujours parents d'élève et enseignants. Après avoir été sermonné par le président de la République, le ministre de l'Education Jean-Michel Blanquer a dévoilé dimanche le protocole sanitaire. Les écoles seront ouvertes à tous, sans passe sanitaire obligatoire, pour les élèves comme pour les enseignants. Les cours se feront en présentiel avec masque obligatoire. Les activités physiques seront autorisées, à l'exception des sports de contact en intérieur. Des mesures insuffisantes pour le syndicat d'enseignants SNES-FSU, qui pointe notamment que les collèges et les lycées ne soient toujours pas équipés en capteur de CO2. Dans ces établissements, les cas contacts vaccinés pourront rester en classe, les autres devront s'isoler pendant sept jours. Une différence de traitement qui divise les parents d'élèves qui redoutent une fracture scolaire. Les interrogations concernant la rentrée scolaire sont également nombreuses dans les Antilles. Un report n'est pas à écarter. Car la situation sanitaire est catastrophique en Guadeloupe, comme en Martinique. Dans ce département, le variant Delta fait des ravages tandis que la campagne de vaccination reste confrontée à la défiance d'une grande partie de la population. Si les conséquences sanitaires sont désastreuses, les répercussions économiques le sont tout autant. Pour les habitants, qui connaissent d'ordinaire des problèmes relatifs au coût de la vie, particulièrement élevé, tout comme à un chômage endémique, l'onde de choc de la crise économique est d'autant plus violemment ressentie. Offrir une troisième dose aux pays riches au détriment d'une couverture vaccinale mondiale complète est-il un si bon calcul dans la lutte contre le virus ? Le protocole sanitaire en milieu scolaire présenté par Jean-Michel Blanquer est-il à la hauteur des enjeux ? Comment la population de Martinique va-t-elle pouvoir se relever du choc économique qu'elle subit de plein fouet ? DIFFUSION : du lundi au samedi à 17h45 FORMAT : 65 minutes PRÉSENTATION : Caroline Roux - Axel de Tarlé REDIFFUSION : du lundi au vendredi vers 22h40 RÉALISATION : Nicolas Ferraro - Pascal Hendrick - Benoît Lemoine - Jean-François Verzele - Jacques Wehrlin PRODUCTION : France Télévisions / Maximal Productions Retrouvez C DANS L'AIR sur internet & les réseaux : INTERNET : francetv.fr FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/Cdanslairf5 TWITTER : https://twitter.com/cdanslair INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/cdanslair/

“Al momento i dati non indicano il bisogno di una terza dose” lo ha detto Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist dell'Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità. In questo momento si dovrebbe aumentare le coperture nei paesi che non hanno ancora avuto accesso ai vaccini. Secondo l'esperta iniziare con i 'booster' con buona parte del mondo ancora non immunizzata potrebbe essere addirittura controproducente: "Ci opponiamo fermamente alla terza dose per tutti gli adulti nei paesi ricchi, perchè non aiuterà a rallentare la pandemia. Togliendo dosi alle persone non vaccinate i booster favoriranno l'emergere di nuove varianti". La posizione è stata ribadita da Bruce Aylward, un altro esperto dell'Oms. "Ci sono abbastanza vaccini per tutti, ma non stanno andando nel posto giusto al momento giusto. Due dosi devono essere date ai più vulnerabili in tutto il mondo prima che i richiami vengano dati a chi ha completato il ciclo, e siamo ben lontani da questa situazione". Le dichiarazioni sono arrivate poco dopo l'annuncio da parte del presidente Usa del piano per dare la terza dose per gli adulti a partire dal 20 settembre, durante il quale gli esperti del Cdc hanno affermato che i dati confermano un calo dell'efficacia delle due dosi con il passare dei mesi. Ascolta “Dentro la Notizia” a cura di Alessio Aymone, ogni giorno su www.giornaleradio.fm oppure scarica la nostra app

La preoccupazione per la variante Delta ha portato molti stati ad accelerare i propri piani per una terza dose. Ma con tutti i paesi più sfruttati del mondo ancora da vaccinare il rischio di protrarre ulteriormente la pandemia è altissimoSono passati otto mesi dall'inizio della campagna vaccinale in tutto il mondo, e le aziende farmaceutiche iniziano a pubblicare i primi dati riguardo alla diminuzione di efficacia dei vaccini dopo qualche mese. I paesi più ricchi del mondo stanno uno alla volta facendo i conti con la necessità di una terza dose, prima ancora di aver finito la campagna vaccinale — e con gran parte del resto del mondo ancora a zero dosi.Questa settimana, il direttore generale dell'Oms Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ha chiesto una sospensione della somministrazione delle terze dosi di vaccino, “almeno fino alla fine di settembre,” per permettere di vaccinare “almeno il 10%” (!) della popolazione di tutti i paesi. “Capisco le preoccupazioni di tutti i governi di proteggere i propri cittadini dalla variante Delta,” ha commentato Tedros, “ma non possiamo accettare che i paesi che hanno già usato quasi tutte le riserve di vaccini del mondo ne usino altri ancora.” La dichiarazione dell'OMS non è stata presa bene dagli Stati Uniti: l'addetta stampa della Casa bianca Jen Psaki ha detto che l'organizzazione sta “presentando una scelta falsa.” Psaki si è vantata del fatto che gli Stati Uniti finora hanno donato 110 milioni di dosi ai paesi che ne avevano bisogno — una quantità risibile rispetto a quanto necessario. Dopo otto mesi, la disuguaglianza vaccinale è ancora gravissima: mentre sia Stati Uniti che Unione europea corrono verso il 50% della popolazione vaccinata, ha ricevuto il vaccino solo l'1,8% della popolazione africana. Nei paesi classificati come ad alto reddito dalla Banca mondiale sono state distribuite 101 dosi ogni 100 persone; nei 29 paesi più sfruttati del mondo 1,7 dosi ogni 100 persone. Il dottor Bruce Aylward, uno dei consiglieri speciali di Tedros, ha ripetuto l'ovvio: l'emergere di nuove varianti dimostra che “non possiamo uscirne [dalla pandemia] finché tutto il mondo non è vaccinato.” Con una disparità vaccinale come quella attuale, l'obiettivo di vaccinare tutto il mondo, però, sembra impossibile.C'è del vero in quello che dice Psaki: gli Stati Uniti infatti, si sono ufficialmente schierati a favore della moratoria sui brevetti dei vaccini, insieme al resto del mondo. Su questo fronte, infatti, al WTO c'è l'Unione europea sostanzialmente isolata, nella strenua difesa del diritto di Pfizer / BioNTech, e delle altre grandi aziende farmaceutiche, di chiedere prezzi sempre più esorbitanti a dose, mentre il resto del mondo resta senza vaccino.Show notes Six Month Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine | medRxiv Should you get a third Covid vaccine dose? Booster shots explained Brusaferro (Iss): “Sì alla terza dose di vaccino per i più fragili. La crescita dei casi? Ora è più contenuta" | L'HuffPost Vaccini Lombardia, consegnate un milione di dosi in meno a luglio Le forniture frenano la corsa- Corriere.it Vaccino Covid, Ricciardi: "Terza dose andrà fatta, serve produrre di più" WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 4 August 2021 WHO calls for moratorium on booster vaccine shots through September, citing global disparity - The Washington Post Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations - Statistics and Research - Our World in Data WHO calls for moratorium on COVID vaccine booster jabs | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera Parliament calls for temporary COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver | News | European Parliament The patent waiver debate - PharmaTimes Magazine July 2021 EU seals deal with Novavax for up to 200 million COVID-19 vaccines | Reuters I profitti di Pfizer e l'impotenza della politica | il manifesto Let down by rich and failing the poor, global vaccine scheme to be shaken up | Reuters

How Do You Solve a Problem Like World Vaccination? Here in the U.S., it feels as if we’ve turned a corner in the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the population can be vaccinated, and restrictions for masks and distancing are loosening. But we won’t be able to get a handle on the pandemic until the rest of the world has access to a vaccine. If you thought distributing shots to rural areas here in the U.S. was hard, imagine distributing them to every corner of the globe. President Joe Biden this week pledged to send an additional 20 million vaccine doses abroad, bringing the total promised to 80 million. But the U.S. is hardly the only country that plans to share doses. So where does the world vaccination effort stand? One international effort, led by organizations including the World Health Organization and UNICEF, is called COVAX, or COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access. Joining Ira to discuss this effort is implementation team member Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the Director-General at the World Health Organization. Ira also speaks to medical supply chain expert Prashant Yadav, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and professor at the INSEAD Business School, based in Washington, D.C. Can A New Vaccine Put An End To Malaria? The World Health Organization estimates that every two minutes, a child somewhere in the world dies of malaria. As of 2018, the parasite-induced disease kills a total of more than 400,000 people every year—most of them children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa. While the quest for a malaria vaccine is more than 50 years old, there is still no licensed, fully approved option. The closest to approval, called RTS,S, is being piloted in several countries, with efficacy estimates hovering around 56 percent. But after a new vaccine, called R21, demonstrated more than 75% efficacy in a small trial in Burkina Faso, is there hope for a more efficient push to reduce the global burden of malaria? Ira talks to malaria vaccine researcher Prakash Srinivasan and Biden administration malaria coordinator Raj Panjabi about the implications of a vaccine milestone—and the work remaining ahead. Plus, how the COVID-19 pandemic might inform future progress in global health. Zombie Wildfires Can Rage On For Months Wildfires are becoming more intense. California saw a record breaking wildfire season—burning 4 million acres across the state last year. Scientists say there is an increase in another type of wildfires called “zombie wildfires.” Forest fires that ignite in the summer and pop back up during the spring. Roxanne Khamsi talks about a new study that tracks the occurrence and causes of these wildfires. Plus, a look at a “black fungus” infection COVID-19 patients in India.  

The World Health Organization has a long to-do list: address outbreaks in India and South America, distribute vaccines around the globe, and prevent the emergence of the next pandemic. Dr. Bruce Aylward explains how they intend to do it all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drug giant Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control.The announcement came less than a week after an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s handling of the scourge, which has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including almost a quarter-million in the United States alone.“We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. “We’re very encouraged.”Pfizer, which is developing the vaccine with its German partner BioNTech, now is on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, once it has the necessary safety information in hand.Even if all goes well, authorities have stressed it is unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and the limited initial supplies will be rationed.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious-disease expert, said the results suggesting 90% effectiveness are “just extraordinary," adding: "Not very many people expected it would be as high as that.”“It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci said as Pfizer appeared to take the lead in the all-out global race by pharmaceutical companies and various countries to develop a well-tested vaccine against the virus.Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization’s senior adviser, said Pfizer's vaccine could “fundamentally change the direction of this crisis” by March, when the U.N. agency hopes to start vaccinating high-risk groups.Global markets, already buoyed by the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, rocketed on the news from Pfizer. The S&P 500 was up 3.3% in afternoon trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 1,300 points. Pfizer jumped more than 11%. Other vaccine stocks were up as well.Still, Monday's announcement doesn't mean for certain that a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries.Some participants got the vaccine, while others got dummy shots. Pfizer released no specific breakdowns, but for the vaccine to be 90% effective, nearly all the infections must have occurred in placebo recipients. The study is continuing, and Pfizer cautioned that the protection rate might change as more COVID-19 cases are added to the calculations.Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, former chief of the FDA’s vaccine division, called the partial results “extremely promising” but ticked off many questions still to be answered, including how long the vaccine’s effects last and whether it protects older people as well as younger ones.Trump, who had suggested repeatedly during the presidential campaign that a vaccine could be ready by Election Day, tweeted: “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!”Biden, for his part, welcomed the news but cautioned that it could be many months before vaccinations become widespread in the U.S., and he warned Americans to rely on masks and social distancing in the meantime. He said the country still faces a “dark winter.”Confirmed infections in the U.S. eclipsed 10 million on Monday, the highest in the world. New cases are running at all-time highs of more than 100,000 per day. And tens of thousands more deaths are feared in the coming months, with the onset of cold weather and the holidays.Pfizer’s vaccine is among four candidates already in huge studies in the U.S., with still more being tested in other countries. Another U.S. company, Moderna Inc., also hopes to file an application with the FDA lat...

Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General of the WHO, speaks to the World Economic Forum about the COVID19 coronavirus pandemic

The pandemic can be stopped. We already know how, explain two of the world’s top public health doctors in this episode on lessons from the pandemic. The solution involves truly understanding how the disease was stopped in the early countries that confronted it. “We’re going back and relearning a lot of the lessons from China,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, who led the World Health Organization’s mission to China and is working to share those findings in Italy and other countries. Dr. Aywalrd says leader’s in the West were slow to listen to the lessons. “We are all human at a certain level and we tend to cherry pick that part of the information, which we find most reassuring,” he observed. Dr.David Nabarro, TITLE, said that quick action will contain the virus. “If when a case arrives, you prevaricate, you're half-hearted, you pretend it's not real and you wait perhaps two, three, four weeks before you start to implement measures of any kind,” he warned, “what happens is that it basically doubles in scale every two to three days.” Following the lead of Drs. Nabarro and Aylward, Co hosts Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman share their plan to offer regular episodes of the podcast that detail success in attacking the pandemic and share them widely while the lessons can make a difference. Listen on Apple Podcasts https://bit.ly/globalgoalscast or the Global GoalsCast website https://globalgoalscast.org/s4e3 or wherever you listen.

We are all inundated with news about the COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing is glaringly missing from the coverage: the underlying structural reasons for why this is happening. Yes, in our globalized economy, travel has increased exponentially in the past 20 years, not just for pleasure, but also for profit. Still, that alone does not explain why we’ve had a litany of infectious disease outbreaks over the same period, each one coming hot on the heels of the last and doing nothing to alter our public health response. What does? Evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace, of the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, has some answers. For the past 25 years, he’s been studying the evolution and spread of influenzas and other pathogens. His research shows that if you really want to understand the nature of global outbreaks, you have to look at global agriculture. Where are large industrial farms or monocultural plantations encroaching on the habitats of wild animals that are the natural hosts for pathogens, like bats and civets and pangolins? Who has pushed people on the margins of society off their subsistence farms and deeper into hinterlands that used to regulate themselves before their ecosystems were destroyed? Who is really to blame for our current predicament?Go beyond the episode:Rob Wallace’s Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Influenza, Agriculture, and the Nature of ScienceRead his article connecting coronavirus to agriculture, “Notes on a novel coronavirus”Check out “How to Think About the Coronavirus,” the first in Philip Alcabes’s weekly updates on the spread of COVID-19For more of Wallace’s work on Ebola, check out “Ebola’s Ecologies,” co-written with RodrickWallace (or these two academic articles)The most critical thing we can do now: flattening the coronavirus curve“Inequalities of US health system put coronavirus fight at risk, experts say”“This is where universal health care coverage and security intersect”: Read W.H.O. official Dr. Bruce Aylward, leader of the team that visited China, on how its free medical care stacks up against the U.S.Yes, there really is facial recognition technology for pigsTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on 

We are all inundated with news about the COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing is glaringly missing from the coverage: the underlying structural reasons for why this is happening. Yes, in our globalized economy, travel has increased exponentially in the past 20 years, not just for pleasure, but also for profit. Still, that alone does not explain why we’ve had a litany of infectious disease outbreaks over the same period, each one coming hot on the heels of the last and doing nothing to alter our public health response. What does? Evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace, of the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, has some answers. For the past 25 years, he’s been studying the evolution and spread of influenzas and other pathogens. His research shows that if you really want to understand the nature of global outbreaks, you have to look at global agriculture. Where are large industrial farms or monocultural plantations encroaching on the habitats of wild animals that are the natural hosts for pathogens, like bats and civets and pangolins? Who has pushed people on the margins of society off their subsistence farms and deeper into hinterlands that used to regulate themselves before their ecosystems were destroyed? Who is really to blame for our current predicament?Go beyond the episode:Rob Wallace’s Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Influenza, Agriculture, and the Nature of ScienceRead his article connecting coronavirus to agriculture, “Notes on a novel coronavirus”Check out “How to Think About the Coronavirus,” the first in Philip Alcabes’s weekly updates on the spread of COVID-19For more of Wallace’s work on Ebola, check out “Ebola’s Ecologies,” co-written with RodrickWallace (or these two academic articles)The most critical thing we can do now: flattening the coronavirus curve“Inequalities of US health system put coronavirus fight at risk, experts say”“This is where universal health care coverage and security intersect”: Read W.H.O. official Dr. Bruce Aylward, leader of the team that visited China, on how its free medical care stacks up against the U.S.Yes, there really is facial recognition technology for pigsTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on

Chinese hospitals overflowing with COVID-19 patients weeks ago now, as of March 2, have empty beds. The World Health Organization’s Bruce Aylward told reporters in Beijing,  “Other countries can take lessons from China’s handling of the COVID-19 epidemic.”  Let’s briefly summarize what the government did and interviews I conducted over the phone with people in China in two episodes.

Bruce Aylward, who led the World Health Organization response to the COVID-19 outbreak in China, talks with Tom Nagorski about what he learned.

Christiane Amanpour is joined by Austan Goolsbee, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to President Obama, to talk about the dramatic impact the Coronavirus is having on the global economy. Dr. Bruce Aylward, Assistant-Director General of the WHO, tells Christiane what lessons we can learn from China's response to the Coronavirus outbreak. And Sheelah Kolhatkar speaks with Christiana Figueres, Co-Author of "The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis", about the threat of climate change and how the dramatic slowdown in manufacturing and driving caused by the infection is leading to a reduction in China's carbon emissions.

Speakers: Dennis Small, Executive Intellignece Reveiw; Dave Christie, LaRouchePAC NW — What would a true assault on the world’s problems look like? What could a real mission-orientation bring? Inspiration can be taken from the full-spectrum approach taken by China to address COVID-19. A WHO-Chinese Joint Mission on COVID-19 concluded that “China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history.” China has an extraordinary ability to complete large-scale projects quickly. “No one else in the world really can do what China just did,” says Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. “Hundreds of thousands of people in China did not get COVID-19 because of [China’s] aggressive response,” reports Bruce Aylward, a Canadian WHO epidemiologist who headed the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19.

Dr. Bruce Aylward joins the show for our Ask Me Anything segment. Aylward led the World Health Organization's COVID-19 mission to China.

A leaked UK government document warns that under a worst case scenario, 80 per cent of Brits could be infected with the coronavirus and half a million would die.The document, which was leaked to the Sun newspaper, outlines “the reasonable worst case” outcome in which four fifths of the country to succumb to the virus.“The current planning assumption is that 2-3 per cent of symptomatic cases will result in a ­fatality,” states the document, meaning that 500,000 would die.A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care emphasized that such numbers were a worst case scenario and “this does not mean we expect it to happen.”Earlier today, more than 300 staff members of American oil company Chevron were evacuated from a building in London’s Canary Wharf after an employee returning from an infected country reported flu symptoms.There are currently only 13 confirmed cases of coronavirus in England, although the World Health Organization just warned countries outside of China that they were “simply not ready” for the spread of the virus.“It can get ready very fast, but the big shift has to be in the mindset,” said Dr Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s China envoy.For the first time, more new cases have been reported in countries outside of China than inside, with 411 inside China and 427 outside.The WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the sudden rise in coronavirus cases in Italy, Iran and South Korea was “deeply concerning.”Support the show (http://www.victorrobert.tv)

China ha cambiado el curso del brote del COVID-19 dentro del país. Lo que era un brote de rápido crecimiento, se estabilizó y ha comenzado a bajar, asegura el doctor Bruce Aylward, quien considera que el resto del mundo debería estar preparándose para contener el virus igual que lo ha hecho el país asiático.

« Ebola menace tout ce qui nous rend humains," » affirme Bruce Aylward de l'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé. Avec sang-froid, il nous raconte le déroulement de la flambée de l'épidémie d'Ebola, et nous explique comment l'inquiétude internationale n'a fait qu'alimenter la croissance exponentielle du problème. Il nous fait part de quatre stratégies critiques dans l'éradication d'Ebola ; stratégies qui se sont avérées efficaces, comme dans le comté de Lofa, au Libéria, qui se trouvait à l'épicentre de l'épidémie et qui n'a enregistré aucun nouveau cas depuis des semaines. Il reste encore du chemin à parcourir dans notre lutte contre Ebola, rappelle Bruce Aylward, mais si nous agissons correctement, nous pouvons espérer améliorer notre capacité à lutter contre les épidémies.

"Ebola threatens everything that makes us human," says Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization. And when the Ebola epidemic exploded in 2014, it caused a worldwide panic. But humanity can beat Ebola -- and Aylward shows four strategies that show how we are succeeding. The fight against Ebola is not yet won, he says, but it can be.

"El Ébola amenaza todo lo que nos hace humanos", dice Bruce Aylward de la Organización Mundial de la Salud. Con una calma medida, nos lleva en un recorrido por la explosión de la epidemia de Ébola... y nos muestra cómo la alarma internacional solo contribuyó al crecimiento exponencial del problema. Comparte cuatro estrategias fundamentales para vencer al Ébola, y cómo están teniendo éxito, empezando por el condado de Lofa, en Liberia, que estaba en el epicentro del brote pero donde no se ha registrado ningún nuevo caso en las últimas semanas. La lucha contra el Ébola no se ganó, enfatiza, pero si hacemos las cosas bien, podemos mirar con optimismo nuestra capacidad para contrarrestar las epidemias.

"O Ebola ameaça tudo o que nos torna humanos", diz Bruce Aylward, da Organização Mundial de Saúde. De forma comedida, ele nos explica como a epidemia de Ebola explodiu e como o alarme internacional só fez acelerar o crescimento exponencial do problema. Ele apresenta quatro estratégias essenciais para combater o Ebola e mostra como elas estão dando certo, começando em Lofa County, Libéria, onde o surto se iniciou, mas onde há semanas nenhum caso é registrado. A luta contra o Ebola não está ganha, ele enfatiza, mas se fizermos a coisa certa, podemos lançar um olhar otimista sobre nossa capacidade de lutar contra epidemias.

We're sorry, the rights for this video have expired. | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSCuba pledges 165 healthcare workers to combat Ebola outbreak U.S. offers support to fragile, West African health systems to combat Ebola Why Ebola is proving so hard to contain JUDY WOODRUFF: The United States military is joining the fight to stop the spread of Ebola in Africa.  President Obama laid out a plan today to send 3,000 troops, amid increasingly dire forecasts of the epidemic’s potential to grow even worse. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected, with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us. JUDY WOODRUFF: The president traveled to Atlanta this afternoon and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to announce the ramped-up American effort. BARACK OBAMA: And our forces are going to bring their expertise in command-and-control, in logistics, in engineering.  And our Department of Defense is better at that, our armed services are better at that than any organization on earth. JUDY WOODRUFF: The focus is on helping overwhelmed local health care systems across West Africa.  Under the president’s plan, U.S. forces will build 17 new treatment facilities in the region, each with 100 beds. The U.S. military is also establishing an instruction facility to train up to 500 medical workers a week, deploying 65 officers to staff a hospital for treating health care workers, and airlifting hundreds of thousands of home health kits to the affected nations. While the president laid out that plan, top federal health officials appeared at a Senate hearing on the Ebola threat. DR. BETH BELL, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: There is a window of opportunity to control the spread of this disease, but that window is closing.  If we do not act now to stop Ebola, we could be dealing with it for years to come, affecting larger areas of Africa. JUDY WOODRUFF: In all, the virus has infected nearly 5,000 people across five countries and left more than half dead. In Geneva today, the World Health Organization issued a stark new warning. DR. BRUCE AYLWARD, Assistant Director General, World Health Organization: With 5,000 now infected, twice the number when we met a couple of weeks ago, over 2,500 dead, nearly twice the number of when we met a couple of weeks ago, you start to get a sense of the rapid escalation now we’re seeing of the virus at it moves from what was a linear increase in cases to now almost an exponential increase in cases. JUDY WOODRUFF: The grim forecast envisions the number of cases doubling every three weeks.  And from medical supplies to health worker salaries to burial costs, the WHO estimates it will take nearly $1 billion to contain the outbreak.  That’s a nearly 10-fold increase from a month ago. DR. DAVID NABARRO, UN Coordinator for Ebola: The reason for that is the outbreak in last months has doubled in size.  And we realize, because it’s going to go on doubling in that sort of frequency if we don’t deal with it, the amounts requested have increased dramatically. JUDY WOODRUFF: In addition to the U.S. response, China today dispatched a mobile laboratory and 59 medical experts to Sierra Leone to help speed up testing. The post Obama pledges money and military personnel to nations struck by Ebola appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

We're sorry, the rights for this video have expired. | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSCuba pledges 165 healthcare workers to combat Ebola outbreak U.S. offers support to fragile, West African health systems to combat Ebola Why Ebola is proving so hard to contain JUDY WOODRUFF: The United States military is joining the fight to stop the spread of Ebola in Africa.  President Obama laid out a plan today to send 3,000 troops, amid increasingly dire forecasts of the epidemic’s potential to grow even worse. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected, with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us. JUDY WOODRUFF: The president traveled to Atlanta this afternoon and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to announce the ramped-up American effort. BARACK OBAMA: And our forces are going to bring their expertise in command-and-control, in logistics, in engineering.  And our Department of Defense is better at that, our armed services are better at that than any organization on earth. JUDY WOODRUFF: The focus is on helping overwhelmed local health care systems across West Africa.  Under the president’s plan, U.S. forces will build 17 new treatment facilities in the region, each with 100 beds. The U.S. military is also establishing an instruction facility to train up to 500 medical workers a week, deploying 65 officers to staff a hospital for treating health care workers, and airlifting hundreds of thousands of home health kits to the affected nations. While the president laid out that plan, top federal health officials appeared at a Senate hearing on the Ebola threat. DR. BETH BELL, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: There is a window of opportunity to control the spread of this disease, but that window is closing.  If we do not act now to stop Ebola, we could be dealing with it for years to come, affecting larger areas of Africa. JUDY WOODRUFF: In all, the virus has infected nearly 5,000 people across five countries and left more than half dead. In Geneva today, the World Health Organization issued a stark new warning. DR. BRUCE AYLWARD, Assistant Director General, World Health Organization: With 5,000 now infected, twice the number when we met a couple of weeks ago, over 2,500 dead, nearly twice the number of when we met a couple of weeks ago, you start to get a sense of the rapid escalation now we’re seeing of the virus at it moves from what was a linear increase in cases to now almost an exponential increase in cases. JUDY WOODRUFF: The grim forecast envisions the number of cases doubling every three weeks.  And from medical supplies to health worker salaries to burial costs, the WHO estimates it will take nearly $1 billion to contain the outbreak.  That’s a nearly 10-fold increase from a month ago. DR. DAVID NABARRO, UN Coordinator for Ebola: The reason for that is the outbreak in last months has doubled in size.  And we realize, because it’s going to go on doubling in that sort of frequency if we don’t deal with it, the amounts requested have increased dramatically. JUDY WOODRUFF: In addition to the U.S. response, China today dispatched a mobile laboratory and 59 medical experts to Sierra Leone to help speed up testing. The post Obama pledges money and military personnel to nations struck by Ebola appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

We're sorry, the rights for this video have expired. | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSCDC director: ‘Ebola will get worse before it gets better’ American doctor speaks out about his Ebola recovery Doctors Without Borders: Ebola efforts need more people in the field GWEN IFILL: There were new numbers and a bleak projection today on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  At the same time, it appears human trials will begin for a possible vaccine as soon as next week. The ominous forecast came from the World Health Organization:  Ebola cases could top 20,000 as the outbreak continues to spread. DR. BRUCE AYLWARD, World Health Organization: It is now not just remote isolated areas where you can rapidly contain, but we are dealing with this disease in large urban environments and over large geographic areas.  This is very unique. GWEN IFILL: So far, the U.N. agency has confirmed more than 3,000 cases.  Of that number, more than half have died in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.  But the WHO says the outbreak could spread to 10 other countries. To contain the virus, the agency announced a $490 million strategic plan for the next nine months. DR. BRUCE AYLWARD: When we look at the numbers of people, to make this work, we are going to need 750 internationals at least and 12,000 nationals.  That is very difficult in the current — current environment, but that is the scale of manpower needed to do this. GWEN IFILL: The current environment includes a sizable fear factor, especially in Liberia, the country with the most Ebola cases and deaths.  Doctors Without Borders opened a treatment facility in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, two weeks ago, but its 120 beds are already full. LINDIS HURUM, Doctors Without Borders: The health care system has more or less broken down.  Hospitals have closed, clinics are closed.  Some of them have reopened, but the staff is afraid to go back because they are afraid to get the disease. GWEN IFILL: In desperation, Liberian officials quarantined Monrovia’s West Point neighborhood, and armed police have used live ammunition to stop residents from getting out.  The medical emergency has also placed a heavy economic strain on affected countries.  The African Development Bank is urging an end to trade and travel restrictions. DONALD KABERUKA, President, African Development Bank: Markets are not functioning, airlines are not coming in, projects are being canceled, businesspeople have left.  That is very, very damaging. The post WHO announces $490 million plan for fighting Ebola appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

We're sorry, the rights for this video have expired. | Listen to the AudioRELATED LINKSCDC director: ‘Ebola will get worse before it gets better' American doctor speaks out about his Ebola recovery Doctors Without Borders: Ebola efforts need more people in the field GWEN IFILL: There were new numbers and a bleak projection today on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  At the same time, it appears human trials will begin for a possible vaccine as soon as next week. The ominous forecast came from the World Health Organization:  Ebola cases could top 20,000 as the outbreak continues to spread. DR. BRUCE AYLWARD, World Health Organization: It is now not just remote isolated areas where you can rapidly contain, but we are dealing with this disease in large urban environments and over large geographic areas.  This is very unique. GWEN IFILL: So far, the U.N. agency has confirmed more than 3,000 cases.  Of that number, more than half have died in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.  But the WHO says the outbreak could spread to 10 other countries. To contain the virus, the agency announced a $490 million strategic plan for the next nine months. DR. BRUCE AYLWARD: When we look at the numbers of people, to make this work, we are going to need 750 internationals at least and 12,000 nationals.  That is very difficult in the current — current environment, but that is the scale of manpower needed to do this. GWEN IFILL: The current environment includes a sizable fear factor, especially in Liberia, the country with the most Ebola cases and deaths.  Doctors Without Borders opened a treatment facility in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, two weeks ago, but its 120 beds are already full. LINDIS HURUM, Doctors Without Borders: The health care system has more or less broken down.  Hospitals have closed, clinics are closed.  Some of them have reopened, but the staff is afraid to go back because they are afraid to get the disease. GWEN IFILL: In desperation, Liberian officials quarantined Monrovia’s West Point neighborhood, and armed police have used live ammunition to stop residents from getting out.  The medical emergency has also placed a heavy economic strain on affected countries.  The African Development Bank is urging an end to trade and travel restrictions. DONALD KABERUKA, President, African Development Bank: Markets are not functioning, airlines are not coming in, projects are being canceled, businesspeople have left.  That is very, very damaging. The post WHO announces $490 million plan for fighting Ebola appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

FULL INTERVIEW: This week we talk virtual teams, startup, cloud computing and doing it in Wellington with Bruce Aylward from Psoda.------------------------------------------------------We share the stories from people that work in New Zealand tech, social media, startups. If you have a story or know someone that does - get in touch!Mike Riversdale (@MiramarMike) background is explaining stuff, connecting people and getting things done. Raj Khushal (@nzRaj) background is in video, design, media and making things happen.All our past shows are on our websitehttps://www.accessgranted.nzFollow and Like us on:https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZhttps://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZhttps://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcastSubscribe to the show however you want:https://www.accessgranted.nz/subscribe/

This week we talk virtual teams, startup, cloud computing and doing it in Wellington with Bruce Aylward from Psoda.------------------------------------------------------We share the stories from people that work in New Zealand tech, social media, startups. If you have a story or know someone that does - get in touch!Mike Riversdale (@MiramarMike) background is explaining stuff, connecting people and getting things done. Raj Khushal (@nzRaj) background is in video, design, media and making things happen.All our past shows are on our websitehttps://www.accessgranted.nzFollow and Like us on:https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZhttps://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZhttps://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcastSubscribe to the show however you want:https://www.accessgranted.nz/subscribe/

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioGWEN IFILL: Public health officials around the world are sounding the alarm this week about the return of polio. It’s a big shift from just two years ago, when some experts thought they were on the verge of eradicating the disease. RELATED LINKSPolio vaccine campaign faces extemist opposition, public apathy in Pakistan Will polio outbreak inspire international community to do more about Syria? Program on polio eradication suspended in Pakistan after 9 aid workers killed Jeffrey Brown has the story. JEFFREY BROWN: The World Health Organization calls it an extraordinary event that threatens the decades-long battle to wipe out polio. On Monday, the agency declared an international public health emergency. Bruce Aylward is leading the WHO polio effort. He spoke during a teleconference from Geneva. BRUCE AYLWARD, World Health Organization: While the virus has resurged, I think it reminds us that, until it’s eradicated, it is going to spread internationally and it’s going to find and paralyze susceptible kids. Indeed, it could become endemic again in the entire world if we do not complete the eradication of this disease. JEFFREY BROWN: Worldwide, there have been 74 confirmed cases of polio this year, three times as many as the same period in 2013. They’re focused in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, the outbreak has spread across at least 10 countries. The WHO singles out Syria, Cameroon and Pakistan as the main sources of the disease. Of those three, the vast majority of cases have been in Pakistan. FRED DE SAM LAZARO: This slum in Karachi is one of the last places in the world where polio is still a threat. JEFFREY BROWN: The NewsHour’s Fred de Sam Lazaro visited the country last August. He found Islamist militants have spread propaganda that the polio vaccine makes boys sterile and violates religious values. Moreover, Taliban militants have killed dozens of polio workers in Northwestern Pakistan. Dr. Anita Zaidi, a pediatrician, cited a fake vaccination campaign that the CIA used in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. DR. ANITA ZAIDI, Pediatrician: Which has hugely damaged public health programs, not only in Pakistan, but in many, many countries, because people ask all kinds of questions. They now think that they might — the vaccine programs might be actually spy operations. JEFFREY BROWN: Now a monitoring board set up by the WHO is warning that Pakistan is a — quote — “powder keg for polio” that could spread the virus on a global scale. And for a closer look at the outbreak, we turn to Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, which is part of the WHO. Welcome to you. DR. JON ANDRUS, Pan American Health Organization: Thank you. JEFFREY BROWN: So, declaring a health emergency is a major step. Why now, exactly? DR. JON ANDRUS: The current situation is a public health emergency of international concern that is going to require a global response in order to prevent the global polio eradication initiative from sinking. This is going at a time when, in three different countries in three different parts of the world have had importations of wild polio virus due to low levels of coverage and having large outbreaks of paralyzed children. JEFFREY BROWN: You said wild polio. Explain what that means. DR. JON ANDRUS: Wild polio is the endemic virus that occurs in nature that paralyzes children. So, we now have a very good vaccination strategy, but, unfortunately, in these countries, they’re fragile. They may have fragile infrastructure. They may have civil strife. And the countries bordering them are also fragile. JEFFREY BROWN: What’s striking about this is that, not that long ago, this eradication process was going very well, right, sort of on schedule. So this is relatively new. DR. JON ANDRUS: Well, it’s — having spent a majority of my life working on polio eradication, you must expect the unexpected. You never know when these exportations are going to occur. Wars break out. So it’s really being on guard to provide the global response that will prevent this from spreading to neighboring countries. And to that end, the International Health Regulation Emergency Committee was convened by Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director, where specific recommendations are provided to stop and mitigate the risk of exportations to other countries. JEFFREY BROWN: All right, so before I ask you about those, though, I want to talk about some of those specific countries. Pakistan is one we mentioned in our setup piece, a lot of complications there, political, terrorism, anti-Western sentiment. How do you — how do you cope with that? DR. JON ANDRUS: It requires a multipronged approach, but I think what we learned in India is persistence. Today may not be an ideal time, because vaccination — vaccinators are being murdered. But when sufficient commitment and sufficient capacity to approach the problem develops, and that window of time when we take advantage, like India, Pakistan can accomplish the goal. JEFFREY BROWN: India has been — India is considered a success story in this. DR. JON ANDRUS: As of a couple of months ago, India was certified as polio-free. So, all of Southeast Asia was certified as polio-free due to India’s success. Fifteen years ago, the government of India didn’t even think polio could be eradicated. So my point is, it’s persistence. And I think we have a partnership with World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stepping forward, and others like CDC, that will provide that persistence in helping the government stop transmission. JEFFREY BROWN: Another key country here is Syria. And we have reported on this on the program. Here — there, the case is a real breakdown in just the health infrastructure. Kids just are not getting vaccinations. DR. JON ANDRUS: Well, during the civil war, vaccinators can’t reach certain areas. So coverage is going to go down. Susceptible children, susceptible to the infection, those numbers will increase. So, when the virus — as Dr. Aylward mentioned, the virus is going to find those children. And the outbreaks that we have seen have occurred. Now Syria is exporting the virus, most recently to Iraq, which is another country that’s fragile and will be difficult to control. JEFFREY BROWN: So, tell us a little about the measure that can take place. WHO doesn’t have enforcement provisions, right? But you’re recommending — well, some of it has to do with travel restrictions. DR. JON ANDRUS: Well, the international health regulations, which were modified in 2005, adopted by the World Health Assembly — so that is a governing body that all member countries participate in — they approved these regulations that injects a level of accountability to the countries that have the problem. So, in the old days, when the international health regulations were only limited to a small number of diseases, mainly smallpox, cholera, plague, and yellow fever, with a one-size-fits-all strategy, we now have regulations that can be adjusted and — and tailored to the situation. It’s not just about an infectious disease. It could be about an earthquake, as happened in Haiti. It could be about a tsunami that happened in Indonesia. So those regulations, we believe, add accountability and really, through the global community, encourage local action at the source of the infection, whereas, in the old days, it was at the border crossings. JEFFREY BROWN: I see. DR. JON ANDRUS: So now it’s… JEFFREY BROWN: So, now it’s a mix. DR. JON ANDRUS: It’s a mix. And I think does add accountability. So, specifically, the director of WHO is asking those three countries that are exporting the virus — namely, Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria — any traveler that plans to leave the country be required to be vaccinated four weeks before they leave, up to a year. But that then would be documented with the WHO forms, and would be a mechanism to mitigate the risk of it being exported. JEFFREY BROWN: OK. Dr. Jon Andrus of the World Health Organization, thanks so much. DR. JON ANDRUS: Thank you, Jeff. The post Persistence is key to wiping out polio outbreaks in fragile nations appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioGWEN IFILL: Public health officials around the world are sounding the alarm this week about the return of polio. It’s a big shift from just two years ago, when some experts thought they were on the verge of eradicating the disease. RELATED LINKSPolio vaccine campaign faces extemist opposition, public apathy in Pakistan Will polio outbreak inspire international community to do more about Syria? Program on polio eradication suspended in Pakistan after 9 aid workers killed Jeffrey Brown has the story. JEFFREY BROWN: The World Health Organization calls it an extraordinary event that threatens the decades-long battle to wipe out polio. On Monday, the agency declared an international public health emergency. Bruce Aylward is leading the WHO polio effort. He spoke during a teleconference from Geneva. BRUCE AYLWARD, World Health Organization: While the virus has resurged, I think it reminds us that, until it’s eradicated, it is going to spread internationally and it’s going to find and paralyze susceptible kids. Indeed, it could become endemic again in the entire world if we do not complete the eradication of this disease. JEFFREY BROWN: Worldwide, there have been 74 confirmed cases of polio this year, three times as many as the same period in 2013. They’re focused in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, the outbreak has spread across at least 10 countries. The WHO singles out Syria, Cameroon and Pakistan as the main sources of the disease. Of those three, the vast majority of cases have been in Pakistan. FRED DE SAM LAZARO: This slum in Karachi is one of the last places in the world where polio is still a threat. JEFFREY BROWN: The NewsHour’s Fred de Sam Lazaro visited the country last August. He found Islamist militants have spread propaganda that the polio vaccine makes boys sterile and violates religious values. Moreover, Taliban militants have killed dozens of polio workers in Northwestern Pakistan. Dr. Anita Zaidi, a pediatrician, cited a fake vaccination campaign that the CIA used in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. DR. ANITA ZAIDI, Pediatrician: Which has hugely damaged public health programs, not only in Pakistan, but in many, many countries, because people ask all kinds of questions. They now think that they might — the vaccine programs might be actually spy operations. JEFFREY BROWN: Now a monitoring board set up by the WHO is warning that Pakistan is a — quote — “powder keg for polio” that could spread the virus on a global scale. And for a closer look at the outbreak, we turn to Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, which is part of the WHO. Welcome to you. DR. JON ANDRUS, Pan American Health Organization: Thank you. JEFFREY BROWN: So, declaring a health emergency is a major step. Why now, exactly? DR. JON ANDRUS: The current situation is a public health emergency of international concern that is going to require a global response in order to prevent the global polio eradication initiative from sinking. This is going at a time when, in three different countries in three different parts of the world have had importations of wild polio virus due to low levels of coverage and having large outbreaks of paralyzed children. JEFFREY BROWN: You said wild polio. Explain what that means. DR. JON ANDRUS: Wild polio is the endemic virus that occurs in nature that paralyzes children. So, we now have a very good vaccination strategy, but, unfortunately, in these countries, they’re fragile. They may have fragile infrastructure. They may have civil strife. And the countries bordering them are also fragile. JEFFREY BROWN: What’s striking about this is that, not that long ago, this eradication process was going very well, right, sort of on schedule. So this is relatively new. DR. JON ANDRUS: Well, it’s — having spent a majority of my life working on polio eradication, you must expect the unexpected. You never know when these exportations are going to occur. Wars break out. So it’s really being on guard to provide the global response that will prevent this from spreading to neighboring countries. And to that end, the International Health Regulation Emergency Committee was convened by Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director, where specific recommendations are provided to stop and mitigate the risk of exportations to other countries. JEFFREY BROWN: All right, so before I ask you about those, though, I want to talk about some of those specific countries. Pakistan is one we mentioned in our setup piece, a lot of complications there, political, terrorism, anti-Western sentiment. How do you — how do you cope with that? DR. JON ANDRUS: It requires a multipronged approach, but I think what we learned in India is persistence. Today may not be an ideal time, because vaccination — vaccinators are being murdered. But when sufficient commitment and sufficient capacity to approach the problem develops, and that window of time when we take advantage, like India, Pakistan can accomplish the goal. JEFFREY BROWN: India has been — India is considered a success story in this. DR. JON ANDRUS: As of a couple of months ago, India was certified as polio-free. So, all of Southeast Asia was certified as polio-free due to India’s success. Fifteen years ago, the government of India didn’t even think polio could be eradicated. So my point is, it’s persistence. And I think we have a partnership with World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stepping forward, and others like CDC, that will provide that persistence in helping the government stop transmission. JEFFREY BROWN: Another key country here is Syria. And we have reported on this on the program. Here — there, the case is a real breakdown in just the health infrastructure. Kids just are not getting vaccinations. DR. JON ANDRUS: Well, during the civil war, vaccinators can’t reach certain areas. So coverage is going to go down. Susceptible children, susceptible to the infection, those numbers will increase. So, when the virus — as Dr. Aylward mentioned, the virus is going to find those children. And the outbreaks that we have seen have occurred. Now Syria is exporting the virus, most recently to Iraq, which is another country that’s fragile and will be difficult to control. JEFFREY BROWN: So, tell us a little about the measure that can take place. WHO doesn’t have enforcement provisions, right? But you’re recommending — well, some of it has to do with travel restrictions. DR. JON ANDRUS: Well, the international health regulations, which were modified in 2005, adopted by the World Health Assembly — so that is a governing body that all member countries participate in — they approved these regulations that injects a level of accountability to the countries that have the problem. So, in the old days, when the international health regulations were only limited to a small number of diseases, mainly smallpox, cholera, plague, and yellow fever, with a one-size-fits-all strategy, we now have regulations that can be adjusted and — and tailored to the situation. It’s not just about an infectious disease. It could be about an earthquake, as happened in Haiti. It could be about a tsunami that happened in Indonesia. So those regulations, we believe, add accountability and really, through the global community, encourage local action at the source of the infection, whereas, in the old days, it was at the border crossings. JEFFREY BROWN: I see. DR. JON ANDRUS: So now it’s… JEFFREY BROWN: So, now it’s a mix. DR. JON ANDRUS: It’s a mix. And I think does add accountability. So, specifically, the director of WHO is asking those three countries that are exporting the virus — namely, Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria — any traveler that plans to leave the country be required to be vaccinated four weeks before they leave, up to a year. But that then would be documented with the WHO forms, and would be a mechanism to mitigate the risk of it being exported. JEFFREY BROWN: OK. Dr. Jon Andrus of the World Health Organization, thanks so much. DR. JON ANDRUS: Thank you, Jeff. The post Persistence is key to wiping out polio outbreaks in fragile nations appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

September 25, 2013 - Read the Forbes article and watch the video here: http://onforb.es/1fnqh5o. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes. Archie Panjabi, who plays the tough, intelligent and seductive investigator on The Good Wife, is a celebrity spokesperson for Rotary and has been personally active in the effort to end polio around the world. Today, there are only three countries in the world where polio is endemic; Panjabi’s former home country, India, is not one of them. The country has been polio-free for three years now. On Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 3:00 Eastern, Panjabi will join me live to discuss her role in the fight to end polio. After watching the interview, you can visit endpolio.org. Rotary will be livestreaming an event on World Polio Day, October 24, 2013. Put the event on your calendars and plan to watch. According to Rotary, the event “will be a global update on the status of polio eradication; our panelists will include Dr. Bruce Aylward, the world’s top expert on polio eradication and assistant director-general for polio, emergencies and country collaboration at the World Health Organization; Dennis Ogbe, a Nigerian-born polio survivor, Paralympian and Shot@Life ambassador for polio eradication; and Dr. Robert Murphy, director of Northwestern University’s Center for Global Health.” While I am proud to be a rank-and-file member of Rotary, I don’t warrant any credit for this fight.

Guest: Bruce Aylward, MD, MPH Host: Jennifer Shu, MD Nearly 90 percent of poliomyelitis cases are found in Nigeria and India, two countries where the virus remains endemic. Poor vaccine coverage, especially in Nigeria, has contributed to the transmission of disease, but could a newly licensed monovalent vaccine help eliminate the virus in the region? Is this strategy applicable in India as well, and how does this all fit into the worldwide effort to eradicate poliovirus? Dr. Bruce Aylward, director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the World Health Organization (WHO), probes these questions and more with host Dr. Jennifer Shu, as he lays out WHO plans to move us closer to conquering polio over the next several years.