WORLD POLIO DAY IS OCTOBER 24 THIS YEAR AND IT IS MY HOPE THAT EVERY CLUB'S PRESIDENT IN DISTRICT 5610 WILL SHOW AND READ "5 REASONS WHY WE MUST ERADICATE POLIO", USING ZOOM OR MEETING IN PERSON, THEREBY CELEBRATING THIS SPECIAL DAY.
Rotary has made the huge commitment to continue giving $50 million a year until polio is eradicated. This shows the level of support our wonderful organization is doing for one of the noblest projects in history. The Gates Foundation has also raised the bar by committing to match every dollar Rotary raises by two dollars. District 5610 is asking every Rotarian to help with a $40 gift a year.
Covid has, as expected, been a setback with the total cases of wild virus increasing but not as much as was feared. Since the 4 month suspension ended in August the number of polio cases have increased in Afghanistan to 102 compared to 67 year to date last year. Pakistan did better with only 65 cases versus 67 last year at this time. The eradication program had to be suspended from March to August so as not to become a vehicle for covid to spread but our personnel and resources were used to slow the spread of covid. During the near five suspension months it is estimated that over 40 million children went without polio vaccination. Now we have to make that up in a very carefully masked, methodical and sanitized way. The effect of covid has also been felt worse in the number of vaccine derived cases of polio increasing. These happen when vaccination levels lag and the vaccine has a chance to revert and causes paralysis instead of protecting. These cases are now occurring in a number of the poorest countries of Africa. When this occurs the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) must go back into these poor areas and vaccinate every child and then moving circularly out until the cases drop. This takes a huge amount of time, effort and money. Rotary and the partners of the GPEI have developed a new type 2 polio vaccination that should stop this problem in the future. Then we can again concentrate on Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Since Rotary first started the effort to eliminate polio from the world it has given $2.1 billion. We also have encouraged world governments to contribute $10 billion to the effort. In return this money has saved 19 million children from ruined lives of paralysis. 1.5 million children are now alive that would have died. Hundreds of thousands of adults will not have post polio syndrome which causes severe handicaps in their later years. The economic benefit from reducing the cases of polio are calculated to be $27 billion now, and by the year 2050 will add up to a value over $41 billion.
It is frustrating that it has been so long and so hard to get to the final eradication but we will as the Energizer Bunny says "keep going and going and going" because it is so vital to the lives of ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD. Rotary is going to be remembered as the organization that wouldn't and couldn't give up.
Thanks to the District, to the clubs and to the individual members for continuing to give so generously.
Willis Sutliff MD, Polio Plus Chair
