Regional Stories
Sculptor, musician, optometrist, mother, grandmother, polio survivor. Hettie Juanita Mejias de Gannes is as multi-faceted as one of the rare orchids her son Antonio cultivates on the family farm.— November 2021 —At seven years old, Hettie contracted polio in her hometown of San Fernando in the 1942 outbreak in Trinidad & Tobago. Long…
Every last child, says the ribbon that circles the neck of Pierina D’Angelo. The inscription refers to the fight that promises to never give up until the last child in the world is free from poliomyelitis. And the passion that she puts into her work demonstrates that.
It has been 32 years since the last case of polio in Honduras, 30 in the region, but professionals like Dr. Roxana Castillo, consider that facing the new epidemics is just as important as dealing with the “historical” epidemics.
21 October 2021
This doctor, with more than 20 years of experience in the laboratory, is today one of the most…
I was busy making music, performing, touring and getting gigs here and there; life was going on as usual. Then we started hearing about people falling sick, going to the hospital; some didn’t get better. It was spreading, they had to close the schools. Carnival was put off. People didn’t know what was going to happen next.”
The National Commission for the Certification of Polio Eradication works day by day to end to the disease in its wild form.— 22 October 2021 —A team of 80 observers at the national level and 20 provincial directors ensures that the programs carried out by the Ministry of Public Health (MPS) are completed and monitor that the vaccination…
