Polio Makes the News

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan

 Emergency plan launched for endgame of polio eradication

GENEVA — The international group tasked with ridding the world of polio said on Thursday it was shifting to "emergency mode" as the fight enters its final stretch.

Polio remains endemic in just three countries -- Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- after India was taken off the list in February.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) says accelerating efforts now could wipe out polio for good: if not, its spread to other countries remains a constant risk.

If stamped out, polio would be the second infectious disease affecting humans after smallpox to be completely eradicated.

The GPEI, spearheaded by the World Health Organization and UNICEF among others, says failure could lead within a decade to 200,000 children being paralysed each year.

Aside from the health benefits, it also estimated savings of $40-50 billion by 2035 by taking into account cash spent on campaigns and treatments and gains in productivity.

"Polio eradication is at a tipping point between success and failure," WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a statement.

Polio is a highly infectious disease which affects mainly the under-fives and can cause paralysis in a matter of hours. Some cases can be fatal.

The GPEI's Emergency Action Plan aims to boost vaccination coverage in the three remaining endemic countries, but says it has a 50 percent funding gap of $945 million (750 million euros) through the end of 2013.

The group hopes a resolution being considered by health ministers this week in Geneva declaring polio eradication "a programmatic emergency for global public health" will mobilise the political commitment and resources needed to make up the shortfall.

Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan saw an unexpected rise in cases in 2011, according to experts, who said conflict, political change and poor infrastructure all make vaccination programmes difficult.
Outbreaks in recent years in China, spread from Pakistan, and in West Africa, transmitted from Nigeria, highlight the continued threat of resurgence.

"The polio map looks better than it ever has before, (but) at the same time the programme is a little bit on the edge because the funding support needed to get that final mile isn't really there," said Jay Wenger of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports the GPEI.

India was taken off a list of polio endemic countries by the WHO on February 25 after more than a year passed with no fresh cases.

Worldwide, polio cases have dropped by over 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 infections to 1,352 reported in 2010.

"We know polio can be eradicated, and our success in India proves it," said Kalyan Banerjee, president of GPEI partner Rotary International.

UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said the group's efforts were at risk until every child was fully immunized against polio.

"We have come so far in the battle against this crippling disease. We can now make history -- or later be condemned by history for failing," said Lake.

 Give to The Rotary Foundation

Rotary and Coca-Cola Beverages team up to fight polio in Pakistan

 

By Aziz Memon, Pakistan PolioPlus Commitee Chair 

 

On 7 April, in honor of World Health Day, a team of Rotarians, Rotary partners, and employees from Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan joined forces to pick up garbage and conduct a cleanup campaign in Union Council 4, Gadap Town, Pakistan.

Gadap Town is one of Karachi’s high risk areas for the wild polio virus, and was chosen for the cleanup campaign because environmental samples have tested positive for the virus since 2009. Union Council 4 is the most populous of Gadap Town’s eight Union Councils, with a population of 450,000.

RI’s Pakistan PolioPlus Committee and Coca-Cola Pakistan are joining forces to build awareness for Rotary’s polio eradication campaign and emphasize the importance of polio immunizations nationwide.
Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan will imprint an awareness message on all Coca-Cola bottle labels in the country, and will upload a Polio ringtone message on their call center answering machine. In addition, the company will provide billboard sites for Polio National Immunization Day messages, and signs to be place in shops within districts where the wild polio virus has been reported. The company will also provide Coke vans to transport polio vaccines.

On behalf of 1.2 million Rotary members worldwide, including more than 5,100 in Pakistan, I would like to extend my thanks to Coca-Cola Pakistan for its generous support and dedication to ensuring that all children are reached during our national polio immunization campaigns. Working together, we are one step closer to a polio-free Pakistan, and a polio-free world

India No Longer Polio Endemic

The World Health Organization has officially removed India from the list of polio-endemic countries. Ghulam Nabi Azad, India's minister of Health and Family Welfare, made the announcement at the Polio Summit 2012 in New Delhi on 25 February. Azad said that he had been informed of WHO’s action by its director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan. 

"It is a matter of satisfaction that we have completed one year without any single new case of polio being reported from anywhere in the country," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the summit, which was organized by the government of India and Rotary International. "This gives us hope that we can finally eradicate polio not only from India but from the face of the entire mother earth. The success of our efforts shows that teamwork pays."

India's last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal State on 13 January 2011. Before polio eradication can be certified in India, it must go two more years without another case of the disease. Polio remains endemic in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Bivalent oral vaccine  

 

Until 2009, India accounted for nearly half the number of the world’s polio cases. A chief factor in the country’s success has been the widespread use of the bivalent oral polio vaccine, which is effective against both remaining types of the poliovirus. Another has been rigorous monitoring, which has helped reduce the number of children missed by health workers during National Immunization Days to less than 1 percent, according to WHO.  
Rotary International has played a major role in helping to stop the transmission of polio in India. Rotary has been a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988, along with WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also a key supporter of the initiative.   
Sporting their signature yellow vests and caps, the nearly 119,000 Rotarians in India have helped administer vaccine to children, organize free health camps and polio awareness rallies, and distribute banners, caps, comic books, and other items.  

Global support from Rotarians

 

"With the support of their Rotary brothers and sisters around the world, Indian Rotarians have worked diligently month after month, year after year, to help organize and carry out the National Immunization Days that reach millions of children with the oral polio vaccine," says RI President Kalyan Banerjee, of the Rotary Club of Vapi, Gujarat. "As an Indian, I am immensely proud of what Rotary has accomplished. However, we know this is not the end of our work. Rotary and our partners must continue to immunize children in India and in other countries until the goal of a polio-free world is finally achieved." 

Robert S. Scott, chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee, calls India's achievement "a significant step towards a polio-free world – an example as to what can be accomplished no matter what problems need to be overcome. Rotarians of India are and should be proud of the key efforts they have made at all levels, without which the world would not be marking this milestone." 

Deepak Kapur, chair of the India PolioPlus Committee, also credits the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for its commitment to ending polio. To date, the Indian government has spent more than US$1.2 billion on domestic polio eradication activities. "We are fortunate that our government is our biggest advocate in this effort," Kapur says.

For more information: 

 

• See a post in the Rotary Voices blog
• View a video message from RI President Kalyan Banerjee
• Learn more about Rotary's efforts to eradicate polio
• Contribute to End Polio Now

WE ARE THIS CLOSE .... World Polio Day

Rotarians Gearing Up
for World Polio Day

Rotarians around the globe are planning events to raise polio eradication awareness and funding TODAY for World Polio Day, October 24, 2011.

Australian club members are working with the Global Poverty Project on a petition drive aimed at persuading world leaders to fully fund the critical work of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Supporters can sign the petition online.

The Global Poverty Project has scheduled an End of Polio Concert on 28 October to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia. Rotarians have joined with the group to lobby leaders to put polio eradication on the meeting agenda. Hugh Evans, cofounder and CEO of the Global Poverty Project, is a scheduled speaker at the 2012 RI Convention in Bangkok, Thailand, in May.

"Global collaboration has ensured that eradication is within reach," says Michael Sheldrick, the group's polio campaign manager and a member of the Rotary Club of Crawley, Western Australia. "Our generation has a chance to realize a historic opportunity and ensure that no one else ever has to fear this disease. That’s why it’s vital we commit to finish the job."

Among other events planned around World Polio Day are these:

• Rotarians in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are organizing a Walk to End Polio Now, aimed at drawing 4,000 participants and raising money for Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge to match $355 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in support of polio eradication.
• The Rotary Club of Venezia-Riviera del Brenta, Italy, has organized a Run to End Polio fundraiser as part of the 23 October Venice Marathon.
• Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact clubs in Canada and the United States are coordinating a Wake Up Across the Continent polio awareness initiative during the week of 24-28 October. Each club is encouraged to participate and to publicize its activities, share ideas, and post images on Facebook.
• Rotarians in Finland will conduct a "This Close" campaign with ads in print, on television, and online 24-28 October, and they plan a fundraiser on World Polio Day.
• Rotarians in Canada have arranged for the "This Close" TV public service announcement and other polio-related programming to air on CBC nationally throughout October.
• Rotarians in Africa have started a "This Close" page on Facebook for World Polio Day, encouraging fellow Rotarians to replace their Facebook profile photo that day with their "This Close" photo from www.thisclose.net.
• The Rotary Club of Linlithgow Grange, Lothian, Scotland, is sponsoring a Scotch Hop dance fundraiser on 29 October to benefit Rotary's challenge.
• Rotary clubs in Boston will present A Festival of Voices: Singing Out to End Polio Now on 23 October, with all proceeds to benefit the challenge.
• The Nepal PolioPlus Committee will host a one-day seminar on polio in conjunction with the local UNICEF office.
  

Rotary Fights Polio in Pakistan

Rotarians play key role in Pakistan’s strategy
to end polio

Rotarians are in the forefront of the drive to implement Pakistan’s National Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication 2011. The government launched the plan in January, in response to a sharp increase in polio cases in the country in 2010.

Turning the tide against the disease in Pakistan is pivotal to the success of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative . Pakistan was the only one of the world’s four polio-endemic countries -- the others are Afghanistan, India, and Nigeria -- to see an increase in cases last year: 144 compared with 89 in 2009.

Rotarians assigned by the Pakistan PolioPlus Committee are mobilizing Rotary clubs to provide support in the country’s four provinces. Rotarians are helping to immunize children against polio and to raise public awareness of the disease.

Club members are working “to cover every nook and corner of the country,” says Aziz Memon, chair of the committee. “We are committed to a polio-free Pakistan.”

World Polio Eradication Day is October 24th.

We are "this close" to ending Polio FOREVER. Rotary has achieved $185 million of the $200 million Gates Challenge. What are you going to do to help END POLIO NOW?

TEXT TO END POLIO ROTARY NBA FINALS FUND RAISER

ide Details

Message flagged

Friday, May 27, 2011 4:40 PM

May 27, 2011 Dear Rotarian, GO MIAMI or GO DALLAS? The Rotary Foundation is issuing a challenge to all HEAT and MAVERICKS fans: Who can raise the most money from text message donations to END POLIO NOW? A text donation contest will start on May 27, 2011 to coincide with the NBA Finals between the Miami Heatand Dallas Mavericks starting on May 31, 2011. The Foundation will track all text donations by date and team name. To give a one time $5 donation during the NBA Finals, Rotarians along with their family, friends, and colleagues would text the word MIAMI or DALLAS to 50555. There is no limit to the number of contributions an individual can make during this exciting series. A promotional Miami vs. Dallas flyer is attached for distribution. We encourage you to post information concerning this event on your club’s website and in your club’s newsletter. The Foundation is counting on your commitment to ending polio to spread the message and get Rotarians in your area involved in this challenge. Not only may your team win, but Rotary will win by being that much closer to reach our goal of $200 Million and eradicating polio forever! Should you have any questions concerning the challenge, please contact Tom McVey, Public Relations Coordinator for Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge at Thomas.McVey@rotary.org. Sincerely, John T. Osterlund General Manager The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International

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