Prof Stella Anyangwe: Polio ambassador who won't stop until disease is eradicated

“I do not want to wake up in the morning and hear news of a polio case in Africa. I come from Cameroon, and I saw more children paralysed and some could not go to school. They resorted to begging on streets,” narrates Prof Stella Anyangwe.

Anyangwe is a physician, epidemiologist and a past District Governor of Rotary International’s D9400.

She currently spearheads the EndPolioNow campaign for Rotary Region 28, overseeing seven Districts across 15 countries in Eastern and South Africa.

Her mission is to take the message of polio vaccination to villages, and communities in Africa and across the globe, to ensure every child is vaccinated.

“Today a child could be fine and tomorrow she is paralysed. We have forgotten about the prevalence of polio because we do not see it,” says Prof Anyangwe who has been at the forefront of eliminating polio for more than 30 years.

To kick off her global mission of fighting the disease, she joined the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1996 and was deployed to the African region in Brazzaville. Her role was to deal with vaccine-preventable diseases.

By then, there was a big push by Rotary in 1985 to eliminate polio, a highly infectious viral disease that was paralysing hundreds of children below five years.

In 1988, Rotary and several partners, namely UNICEF, the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined to eliminate the disease.

WHO was a technical body tasked with the vaccination drive, while UNICEF provided logistics.

Prof Anyangwe’s role was to create district micro-planning for mass vaccination for all African countries, to eradicate polio. She aided WHO/AFRO in large-scale immunisation drives against polio in Africa.

During the roll-out of the vaccination drive in 1988, there were about 350,000 children were paralysed by polio, numbers that were to be reduced through vaccination.

“There was an alarming rate of paralysis caused by polio. The public was scared, and the only way to keep the population safe was pushing for vaccination,” narrates the health expert.

Together with a team of experts and communities, she managed to vaccinate millions of children who were protected against polio.

Sadly, among the challenges experienced in some countries during the drive, were cultural practices where women were not allowed to decide whether their children could be vaccinated. They had to seek permission from their husbands.

Some countries, she adds, lacked hospitals to offer the vaccines, whereas some communities remained adamant about having their children vaccinated.

“It pained me to see children struggle to walk because of paralysis caused by polio, simply because parents lacked knowledge on the importance of the vaccine,” says Anyangwe.

Gradually, with robust sensitisation, she says millions of children have received the vaccine and reduced risk of the disease.

Her operation as a global expert working with WHO was made easier having gained knowledge and skills on polio eradication from her time as a Rotarian.

Before joining WHO in 1996, Prof Anyangwe was conducting polio eradication as a Rotarian, having joined Rotary in 1985.

She says that it is the Rotarian role that secured her a job at WHO. She retired in 2021.

But even after her retirement, Prof Anyangwe is not done with her mission of eradicating polio.

“Now that I have retired, I have all the time to give my all,” she says.

In June 2021 she became the district governor of Rotary District 9400, covering four countries namely South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique and parts of South Africa.

When her tenure as district governor ended, Rotary International asked her to become the coordinator of its polio eradication programme, End Polio Now (EPN).

She has more than one district to oversee - she coordinates seven districts in Africa, covering 15 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. EPNC promotes 15 countries' polio eradication efforts.

As the governor, she ensures all Rotarians understand polio-related activities and raise awareness among Rotarians on polio eradication. She further encourages chairs of Rotary Clubs to make communities and states aware of polio.

“If you do not see people paralysed, it doesn’t mean polio has ended. And we still to continue working on eradication,” she notes.

Through the Rotary Club, she also advocates for funds for polio eradication.

“Polio will not eradicate itself. It will be eradicated if children are vaccinated. Countries should have vaccines, supplies and health workers trained. All this needs money. Donation of money to eradicate money is vital,” says Prof Anyangwe.

She adds, “Children all over the world must be vaccinated. There must be people who go to every corner of the country to vaccinate children, and people need to support them, and a lot of support is needed”.

Further, she encourages countries to conduct polio surveillance in polio elimination programmes.

“Surveillance is important. People must know what they are looking at, for example, identifying it. You only see what you're looking for. Surveillance needs to continue if we need to eradicate polio,”

Still, on a polio eradication mission, Anyagwe was asked to become End Polio Coordinator.

She was inspired to become a Rotarian in 1995 after being invited by a friend.

Rotary started in 1905, and it has seven areas of focus namely preventing diseases, water and sanitation, preventing diseases, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy.

“I agreed to join Rotary because I felt my expertise would be of use. When I joined, I didn’t know Rotary was fighting polio. I joined because of areas of focus that deal with health,” she says.

When Rotary started eradicating polio in 1988, there were about 350,000 cases globally, cases that have dropped to only nine cases of world poliovirus infections in 2023, and three infections in Afghanistan and six in Pakistan.

“...from 350,000 cases in the entire world to nine cases of world poliovirus infections. It has been a long journey, we are almost there,” she remains optimistic.

Polio, she adds, thrives in areas where not every child is vaccinated. In 2022, there were 30 cases of polio globally, among them, eight were in Mozambique. The people infected had never travelled out of Mozambique.

“If you are in Nairobi, and I in Pretoria, and we don’t see paralysis polio, it doesn’t mean the cases are not there. In our big slums, some children might not be vaccinated, and pockets of these children are at risk of getting polio,” she says.

The main challenge being witnessed, according to the expert, is that the general population has forgotten that cases of polio still exist. A larger percentage of the population, she says, believe polio was eradicated.

“Educated people ask me if we still have polio. If educated people still doubt, what of people who do not have education?” she poses.