By: Ann Lee Hussey
District Polio Chair
Welcome to the new Rotary year! As our district wrapped up a year of celebrating the many ways that Rotarians served their communities and the world, despite challenges from the pandemic, we can also be proud of the amazing progress made this year in the fight to END POLIO.
Rotary’s support, your support, has helped to keep the number of Wild Poliovirus Cases at bay, reporting only two children crippled from polio so far this year - one child in each of the remaining endemic countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Two children too many.
Wild poliovirus (WPV)
• Total global WPV1 cases in YTD 2021: 2
• Total global WPV1 cases in YTD 2020: 87
• Total global WPV1 cases in Full Year 2020: 140
Every year, each Rotary district is asked to contribute 20% of their total District Designated Funds (DDF) to PolioPlus. To continue the success mentioned above, I am happy to report our District Foundation Committee continues to lead, approving at its first meeting of the new year to contribute 10% of this year’s DDF to PolioPlus with plans to revisit an additional 10% contribution in future meetings. DDF contributions to PolioPlus are matched both by the World Fund and by the Gates Foundation providing an even greater impact. What a return on our investment!
Have you ever wondered how your contributions to PolioPlus make a difference? Over the Rotary year 2020-2021, the IPPC (International PolioPlus Committee, chaired by our own, Michael McGovern) awarded just over 150 million dollars to UNICEF and WHO grant requests.
Here is an example of how some of those monies will be spent, the following were awarded in June:
June 2021 PolioPlus Grants
Democratic Republic of Congo
• Stipends and training for 65,590 vaccinators, 15,304 supervisors, 4,668 health area coordinators, and 1,305 district supervisors.
• Hiring transportation for frontline workers including 261 cars, 783 motorbikes, 80 boats, and 320 canoes.
Nigeria
• Stipends and training for 5000 Vaccinator Teams, monitors and quality assessment personal
• Stipends for 3, 762 independent monitors to check work of vaccinator teams during the campaign
• Training of 104,059 personnel at state, Local Government Area (LGA) and Ward level, including independent monitors and coordinators
• Stipends for 1,790 post-campaign quality assessment personnel
Afghanistan
· 2,744 Social Mobilizers and Communication Officers, including vests to identify them
· 480 Female Mobilizer-Vaccinators at health facilities
· 7,000 Megaphones (for street announcements and mobilization of caregivers for vaccinations)
· 23,000 Vaccine carriers
· Stipends and training for 45,400 vaccinators and monitors
· Hire transportation for frontline workers, including 58 vehicles.
Pakistan
• 9,100 community health workers and communications officers
• Stipends for 180 religious support persons
• Mass promotion of multiple immunization campaigns through media buying and placement and billboard advertisement
• 4 data support centers at the national and provincial levels
• Polio helpline and call center operations
• Support for polio surveillance including 15,000 specimen carriers for stool and environmental samples, transportation for surveillance medical officers, laboratory equipment
Outbreak response to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus
• Social mobilization for campaigns, vaccine management, surveillance strengthening, campaign monitoring, and medical officers
Vaccine supply
• Procure approximately 177 million doses of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (a new vaccine to decrease the incidence of vaccine-derived poliovirus)
Global and regional technical expertise
· Six senior positions including the World Health Organization Director of Polio Eradication at the global level, and the Directors of Polio Eradication in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions
In addition, we often award grants to National PolioPlus Committees in areas of greatest need. One such grant allowed the Nigeria National PolioPlus committee to provide wells in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in north-eastern Nigeria, an epicenter of poliovirus transmission. Providing clean water helped to reduce the incidence of polio cases and lead the way to the certification of a polio-free Nigeria.
YOUR PolioPlus monies at work!
Keep in mind procuring vaccines is one thing, delivering them to children is a logistical feat. Now you know a bit more about how that delivery occurs. Our polio program has created an amazing infrastructure around the globe that is also used for other disease outbreaks, such as when Ebola first hit Africa. Last year, our polio infrastructure was redirected to assist with Covid response, while never taking our eye off our polio work.
I hope this answers some of your questions on why we continue to ask for PolioPlus contributions and why sharing our DDF with PolioPlus is so crucial to obtaining the Gates Foundation match and to ending polio.
This Rotary year, The Rotary Foundation once again asks each club to contribute $1500 to PolioPlus. The easiest way to do this is to dedicate a fundraiser to PolioPlus which also educates your community on Rotary’s work.
This year our district is asking every Rotarian to give a minimum of $10 as a personal contribution to PolioPlus. The need is great and the timing has never been more critical. Or please consider joining the PolioPlus Society for an annual $100 or more contribution to PolioPlus. You will hear more about this soon.
We need your strength and resolve to reach our goal of a Polio-Free World.
• In his latest blog, Bill Gates talks about the progress against polio made possible through the iron will of health workers and partners such as Rotary, GPEI’s support to COVID and new strategy to secure success. He calls on global solidarity/support to deliver on the promise of a polio-free world. For Bill Gates' notes on Polio Click Here
Thank you for your continued support to PolioPlus. Ending polio will be our greatest gift to all future generations.
Respectfully,
Ann Lee Hussey, PDG, District PolioPlus Chair
https://www.endpolio.org/donate
For questions or to have a polio speaker please contact me at annlee001@yahoo.com