On February 26th, 2019, organizations involved in the global polio eradication effort were invited to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to speak to Congress members and staff. The evening began with a brief speaking portion and then transitioned to interactive multimedia stations. Present at the reception were the United Nations Foundation, Rotary International, USAID, CDC, UNICEF, Global Citizen, and End Polio Now. Speakers included members of Congress; Hamid Jafari, Principal Deputy Director, Center for Global Health, CDC; and Ellyn Ogden, Worldwide Polio Eradication Coordinator, USAID.
Ellyn Ogden spoke about USAID’s contributions to the global polio eradication initiative including USAID’s work with the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP). The USAID table featured educational materials from CGPP such as flipbooks, a behavior chart, and a snakes and ladders game. The table also featured videos from the field and had a quiz wheel to test participants’ knowledge of polio and the global polio eradication efforts. Lisa Hilmi, CORE Group Executive Director and Avani Duggaraju, Communications and Knowledge Management Associate, CORE Group attended the reception to share CORE Group’s work with CGPP.