Rotary's PolioPius

12 Rotary's PolioPius Cary Silver Rotarian Eddie Obianwu has travelled thousands of miles and recruited thousands of vol- unteers to help deliver poliomyelitis vaccine to remote villages in Nigeria. For the last four years, he has de- voted himself almost night and day to the PolioPlus Programme of Rotary International. He has vowed that no child should ever be crippled by this disease, as long as the tech- nology exists to prevent it. Eddie is part of a massive force of more than one million Rotarians worldwide who are pursuing the same goal. Their strategies are as di- verse as their cultures and countries. But they all have the same dream: to wipe out polio. In India, 36 000 Rotarians and their families help to staff immunization posts and health centres. In the United States, Rotarians fight complacency with the public service message, "Be Wise, Immunize." In Zambia, they provide polio vaccine to refugees from Mozambique. In the Philippines, they conduct house-to-house surveys to determine which children have not been immunized. To date, Rotary International has allocated more than US$ 181 million for Polio Plus projects in 9 8 nations to protect some 500 million children. motto of "Service Above Self'. Rotarians believe that concerned and involved volunteers can achieve seeming miracles where governments traditionally fail. A coalition for health In 1985, Rotary became the first international private organization to make a major commitment to child immunization in developing countries. Through a programme called PolioPlus, it pledged to pro- vide oral polio vaccine for newborn babies for up to five consecutive years to any country that requested assistance. The PolioPlus campaign had as its first goal to raise US$ 120 million to fight polio. Rotarians World Health • 48th Year, No. l, Jonuory-Februory 1995 stunned the world by raising more than $240 million- one of the largest fundraising efforts of its kind in history. To date, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International (which administers the fu nds) has allocated more than $181 million for PolioPlus projects in 98 nations to protect some 500 million children. Carlos Canseco, who served as Rotary 's president when the pro- gramme was officially launched in 1984, called PolioPlus "a gift Rotary has given to the world. Not only the gift of vaccine, but the gift of our vision and energy." Rotarians have donated their time, talents, and money. But their greatest contribu- tion may be their ability to recruit and motivate volunteers from a wide cross-section of the community. Rotary realized that it could pur- sue its goal of polio eradication only as part of a global coalition, along- side WHO, UNICEF, the Pan American Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, and others. These groups have combined their expertise and resources to attack polio from all sides. Polio-free status? Rotary International is an organization of more than 1.2 million business and professional men and women in 26 000 clubs worldwide which provide humani- tarian service, encourage high ethical standards, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. The orga- nization is non- political and non- sectarian, with a The PolioPius Programme of Rotary In ternational is playing a maior role in extending polio vaccination coverage to all children . Perhaps Rotary 's greatest success has been in the Americas, which has not reported a single case of indigenous polio- myelitis since August 1991. World Health • 48th Year, No. 1, Jonuory-februory 1995 In Peru - site of the last reported polio case in the Americas - Rotarians have had to cope with guerrilla warfare, economic pro- blems and a cholera epidemic. In 1992, Peruvian members helped the government to carry out a massive "mop-up" effort to immunize two million children- the largest ever conducted in Latin America. While government vehicles were attacked, the Rotarians were able to enter areas controlled by the Shining Path guer- rillas to deliver vaccine. In Africa, the campaigners con- front overwhelming obstacles on a daily basis - civil war, political insta- bility, declining economies and poor infrastructure. In Liberia, Rotarians such as Gus Simpson have demon- strated great courage in a country plunged into civil war. Simpson (whose house was burned down by rebels) and fellow Rotarians have continued to deliver vaccine, even in rebel-held areas. When asked why he hasn't given up on PolioPius, he responds: "My attitude is that you shouldn 't complain, but make things better." The campaign is also actively im- munizing children in the developed nations. US Rotarians , who once focused only on fundraising, have jump-started efforts to boost the low coverage levels in their own country. "It is crucial that we boost immu- nization rates in the United States, because polio can still be re- introduced from other countries," warns Charles C. Keller, a former Rotary president. One of the latest regions to benefit from PolioPlus is Eastern Europe, where new Rotary clubs are being founded . In 1991, Romania became the first country in Eastern Europe to receive a PolioPlus grant. Despite the significant progress made, PolioPlus faces new chal- lenges in the years ahead. The main focus of Rotarians today is on three areas: support to national immuniza- tion days, particularly through social mobilization; surveillance; and advo- cacy. As countries move closer to the day they are certified as "polio free", it becomes even more difficult So long as there ore children affected by polio in the world, there can be no room for complacency. to achieve that last degree of cover- age. Indeed the greatest threat at this point may be complacency. "We must stay motivated," says 1994-95 Rotary International President Bill Huntley of England. "We must guard against complacency until every country is certified as polio- free . I am confident that we will celebrate that day before Rotary's lOOth birthday in 2005 ." In 1992, Rotary provided a grant of $250 000 to WHO to help develop a heat-stable vaccine. In tum, WHO has recognized Rotary 's historic achievements by presenting the organization with its highest honour, the "Health for All" gold medal. "It will be a proud day when we can celebrate the end of polio- and to know that we played a part," says Eddie Obianwu of Nigeria. "It will be our gift to future generations. And for me personally, it will be a dream fulfilled ." • Ms Cary Silver is Assistant Editor of The Rotarian, official magazine of Rotary International. She has travelled to Thailand, Indonesia, Nigeria, Mexico and Bolivia as a photo-journalist to cover Rotary's PolioPius Programme. Her address is 1560 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL 6020 1·3968, USA 13