In 1985, Rotary launched the Polio plus
program to protect children worldwide
from the cruel and fatal consequences of
polio. In 1988, the World Health
Assembly challenged the world to
eradicate polio. Since that time,
Rotary's efforts and those of partner
agencies, including the World Health
Organization, the United Nations
Children's Fund, the United States
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and governments around the
world, have achieved a 99 percent
reduction in the number of polio cases
worldwide. Rotarians stand at the brink
of a great victory and look forward to
celebrating the global eradication of
polio in 2005, the organization's
centennial year.
How is Rotary involved in the global
polio-eradication effort?
In 1985, Rotary was recognized by the
World Health Organization as a
non-governmental organization working in
the field of international health. In
the same year, Rotary set a goal to
raise US$120 million to provide oral
polio vaccine to newborns in the
developing world. When the campaign
ended, Rotary had doubled its goal,
collecting more than $247 million. To
date, the Polio Plus program has
contributed $373 million to the
protection of nearly 2 billion children.
By 2005, Rotary's financial commitment
will reach nearly $500 million.
On-the-ground assistance: With its
community-based network worldwide,
Rotary is the volunteer arm of the
global partnership to eradicating polio.
Rotary volunteers assist in vaccine
delivery, social mobilization, and
logistical help in co-operation with the
national health ministries, WHO, UNICEF,
and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Rotary's volunteer
efforts were instrumental in the
eradication of polio from the Western
Hemisphere, which was certified
polio-free in 1994.
Rotary in action:
In 1999, more than 100,000 Indian Rotary
members and their families joined the
government of India in immunizing more
than 130 million children on one day,
signaling the largest public health
event ever in the world.
In 1996 and 1997, Rotarians in Angola
led a campaign to solicit corporate
jets, helicopters, and vehicles to move
vaccine through Angola's land
mine-infested countryside. Additional
volunteers mobilized by a single Rotary
club helped the government reach 80
percent of its target population of
children under five years of age.
During the late 1980s, 11,000 Rotarians
in Peru volunteered in a massive drive
to eliminate the virus in one of the
last
South American countries in which polio
still existed. Rotary volunteers
assisted national health care workers in
door-to-door immunization drives,
transporting health care workers to
remote vaccination centers, analyzing
data, and publicizing the immunization
days to raise awareness of the final
assault against the crippling disease.
In countries where there are no Rotary
clubs, like Somalia, Afghanistan,
Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, the Polio
Plus program not only funded vaccines
and promotional materials for National
Immunization Days, it also provided
on-site volunteer assistance from
neighboring countries to assist national
authorities in carrying out eradication
exercises.
After extensive efforts to eradicate
polio in Cambodia, health officials
tracked the remaining pockets of polio
to children living on the waterways, who
had been missed by the previously held
National Immunization Days. Rotary
volunteers joined health officials in a
boat-to-boat follow-up campaign to
successfully reach this population and
wipe out the virus.
In many developing countries, methods of
communication vary from street plays to
parades. Rotary members in India and
Pakistan performed street dramas and
organized rallies to educate parents
about the need to immunize their
children against polio.
To Know More Click ....
www.rotary.org/endpolio
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