Last Thursday, IBM celebrated its 100-year anniversary of its founding on June 16, 1911. The company invited all of its 400,000+ worldwide employees to participate in a day of service in their local community. Our CSC team had a unique opportunity to spend the day helping administer the polio vaccine. We drove about two hours to Nasarawa State where we met local health workers who taught us how to administer the vaccine to children. It was surprisingly simple. Place a drop of solution in a child's mouth and then mark their finger nail with a black marker. This would indicate to other volunteers and health workers that the child had been vaccinated.
In some of the more rural areas of Nigeria, including Nasarawa State, there are people who don't trust vaccines and instead, turn to tribal or voodoo medicine. Traditional religion can also be a barrier to modern medicine. These reasons have caused polio to persist in Nigeria even when there is access to the vaccine. It was an incredibly rewarding experience talking to parents about the disease and vaccinating their children.
#ibm100
In some of the more rural areas of Nigeria, including Nasarawa State, there are people who don't trust vaccines and instead, turn to tribal or voodoo medicine. Traditional religion can also be a barrier to modern medicine. These reasons have caused polio to persist in Nigeria even when there is access to the vaccine. It was an incredibly rewarding experience talking to parents about the disease and vaccinating their children.
#ibm100
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