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WHO / PAKISTAN POLIO COVID-19
STORY: WHO / PAKISTAN POLIO COVID-19
TRT: 04:36
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS /
DATELINE: 09 - 10 JULY 2020, ISLAMABAD AND PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
10 JULY 2020, PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
1. Wide shot, traffic in roundabout
2. Med shot, street vendor at work
3. Med shot, surgical masks for sale
4. Med shot, traffic and vendors in front of Lahori Gate
5. Wide shot, exterior of Khyber teaching hospital (KTH)
6. Med shot, people entering hospital
7. Med shot, disinfecting tunnel outside hospital
8. Med shot, patient being wheeled into hospital
9. Wide shot, interior of hospital, man cleaning
10. Various shots, WHO Polio Eradication Officer, Dr Samreen Khalil, attending to child polio patient
09 JULY 2020, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
11. Various drone shots, city view
12. Various shots, exteriors of World Health Organization (WHO) office
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Palitha Mahipala, Representative in Pakistan, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Pakistan's government response to COVID-19 is very comprehensive and in that the polio infrastructure and polio staff has been used extensively.”
10 JULY 2020, PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
14. Various shots, Dr Khalil carrying out COVID-19 test.
09 JULY 2020, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Palitha Mahipala, Representative in Pakistan, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And also, polio staff was involved training of rapid response teams and also training of the healthcare staff on implementation of infection prevention and control, and then involved with assessment of quarantine centres and isolation facilities. So, the contribution by the polio staff is tremendous, and that's a good example for other countries as well.”
10 JULY 2020, PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
16. Med shot, drain pouring into a stream
17. Med shot, Dr Khalil and team preparing to take water sample
18. Med shot, water sample being collected
19. Close up, Dr Khalil marking bottle for water sample
20. Various shots, water sample
09 JULY 2020, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Rana Safdar National Coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication:
“Being a novel pathogen, unfortunately a lot was not known about this disease, about this virus, as it landed into Pakistan. So, basically one of the big challenges that all currently face, and Pakistan was no exception, was a lot of misinformation. It started coming to people from different sources. So, for us, again, it was extremely important that we keep people informed, but inform them with the right scientific evidence. So, we decided to utilise our available health helpline, which was primarily again, built for polio purposes."
22. Med shot, interior of offices of Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Programme, which hosts a call centre
23. Wide shot, call centre for polio related questions which was redirected to battle COVID-19 misinformation
24. Med shot, poster on wall reading: #IAmEradicatingPolio
25. Various shots, Dr Afifa Younas Raja, at work
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Afifa Younas Raja, Doctor at Call Centre:
“The role was very challenging as this was a very new virus and information about the virus was very limited when we started, but thankfully, with the support of the WHO we had these guidelines to follow, and it helped us a lot to prepare.”
27. Med shot, screen showing dashboard with number of calls
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Rana Safdar, National Coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication:
"As COVID came, we quickly not only trained our existing call agents, we also brought in the technical experts and medical doctors to respond to some of the technical concerns that we started getting from the communities. So far, we have received millions of calls from all across Pakistan. And then, it also gave us an opportunity actually to monitor what's really going on into the minds of our communities."
29. Med shot, van in street
30. Med shot, street vendor
31. Wide shot, street with cars
Polio teams in Pakistan have been working to support the COVID-19 response since the beginning of the pandemic, as well as continuing with their work to eradicate polio.
Extensive support is being offered by the Pakistan polio programme to the COVID-19 response.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Palitha Mahipala, Representative in Pakistan, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Pakistan's government response to COVID-19 is very comprehensive and in that the polio infrastructure and polio staff has been used extensively.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Palitha Mahipala, Representative in Pakistan, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And also, polio staff was involved training of rapid response teams and also training of the healthcare staff on implementation of infection prevention and control, and then involved with assessment of quarantine centres and isolation facilities. So, the contribution by the polio staff is tremendous, and that's a good example for other countries as well.”
In Peshawar, approaches and methods which have proven effective in tracking and fighting polio served as a model for in the fight against COVID-19. Among these were utilizing existing acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance networks embedded in hospitals and health care facilities, as well as regularly collecting and test water samples.
Data management systems across the country and a call centre in the capital, Islamabad, assist in addressing misinformation and helping to detect suspected cases.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Rana Safdar National Coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication:
“Being a novel pathogen, unfortunately a lot was not known about this disease, about this virus, as it landed into Pakistan. So, basically one of the big challenges that all currently face, and Pakistan was no exception, was a lot of misinformation. It started coming to people from different sources. So, for us, again, it was extremely important that we keep people informed, but inform them with the right scientific evidence. So, we decided to utilise our available health helpline, which was primarily again, built for polio purposes."
In April 2020, the ‘Sehat Tahaffuz 1166’ Helpline Centre at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) for Polio Eradication in Islamabad, Pakistan was expanded to address people’s concerns and questions about COVID-19. The Sehat Tahaffuz 1166 call centre is increasingly becoming an important platform to listen to the concerns of people, provide correct information, and connect them to a doctor when required. Alongside the agents, the World Health Organization has provided nineteen doctors to support the Helpline.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Afifa Younas Raja, Doctor at Call Centre:
“The role was very challenging as this was a very new virus and information about the virus was very limited when we started, but thankfully, with the support of the WHO we had these guidelines to follow, and it helped us a lot to prepare.”
Initially, the call centre was receiving hundreds of calls a day. However, since the outbreak of COVID-19, the call volume has increased dramatically, to about 50,000 calls a day at its peak in June-July 2020.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Rana Safdar, National Coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication:
"As COVID came, we quickly not only trained our existing call agents, we also brought in the technical experts and medical doctors to respond to some of the technical concerns that we started getting from the communities. So far, we have received millions of calls from all across Pakistan. And then, it also gave us an opportunity actually to monitor what's really going on into the minds of our communities."
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