'When,’ not ‘if’: Progress continues toward ending polio

On World Polio Day, Rotary International leaders and public health experts reiterate their commitment to global eradication

By Etelka Lehoczky and Arnold R. Grahl

Rotary leaders, including RI President Stephanie Urchick, and global health experts discuss the future of the polio eradication effort at a World Polio Day event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, 24 October 2024.

World Polio Day raises awareness and funds for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s work to eliminate the disease. Since Rotary and its partners formed the GPEI in 1988, the number of wild polio cases has decreased by 99.9%. The event highlighted Rotary’s continuing efforts toward complete eradication.

Polio remains endemic in two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2024, increased case counts of wild poliovirus and the first case of paralytic polio in Gaza in 25 years served as a reminder that until the disease is fully eliminated everywhere, it remains a threat to children everywhere.

Despite the challenges, Michael K. McGovern, chair of the International PolioPlus Committee, said he remains confident as ever that global eradication is within reach. “We’re in a bumpy period, but we’re going to get this done by continuing to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan and doing the things that were done so successfully by Rotarians,” he said.

The event included videos featuring polio vaccination workers in the field. Urchick said she was inspired by them during a visit to Karachi, Pakistan, earlier this year.

“Men work diligently to immunize thousands of children every day at traffic checkpoints, while women go house to house to reach families directly,” Urchick said. “Some workers literally climb mountains to vaccinate children in remote locations, and their determination never wavers.”

The livestream event was part of a two-day Rotary zone institute. RI Director Patrick Eakes, who convened the institute, said Pittsburgh was a perfect location because it’s where Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine. “We realized we were in a unique position,” said Eakes, a member of the Rotary Club of Crescent (Greensboro), North Carolina, USA.

Dr. Peter L. Salk, president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation in La Jolla, California, and a part-time professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, talked about what drove his father to develop the first inactive polio vaccine.

“He just never let go,” Salk recalled. “It was his personality to have a dream and get things done.”

Salk said his father wanted to make a difference in the world from a young age and became interested in science. After working in the U.S. state of Michigan on an influenza vaccine, he came to Pittsburgh in 1947 to work at the virus research lab and received a grant for polio research from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. That led to his work developing the inactive polio vaccine.

Other presenters at the livestream event included 2016-17 RI President John Germ. Several members of Rotary’s eradication effort also sent video messages.

In a video shown at the event that was originally recorded for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates lauded the commitment toward eradication. “When polio is eradicated, it will be one of the biggest advances in public health in human history,” said Gates. The Gates Foundation, a partner in the GPEI, matches up to US$50 million that Rotary raises each year at a 2-to-1 ratio, which means up to US$150 million for the effort each year.

Salk, too, said he was honored to be in a room full of Rotary members who have a passion for solving tough problems.

“Every time I get together with Rotarians,” he said, “I am just uplifted by the quality of humanity that you all radiate and the dedication you put in all the different realms helping the world become a better place.”

— October 2024