POLIO DAY - 23 OCTOBER 2015
The second Australian Rotary International President Sir Clum Renouf (R.C. Nambour) 1978-79, decided it was time for the legion of Rotary clubs around the world to focus less on parochial projects and tackle a big-picture problem that would leave an indelible mark on society.
He had been inspired by the World Health Organisation’s eradication of smallpox and came up with Rotary’s Health, Hunger and Humanity program that would initially see 6.3 million children immunised against polio in the Philippines at a cost of just $760,000.
Another offshoot of the project was providing free tetanus vaccines to 390,000 expectant mothers.
Sir Clem realised there was a real power for good in the form of the ready-made Rotary network spanning the globe so he approached Rotary District Governor Dr John Sever, who was head of infectious diseases at the National Institute of Health in Washington DC.
Sir Clem put the question to him – “was there another disease that could be eliminated?”
D.G. John pinpointed polio, which was crippling 1000 people every day while an oral vaccine could be given for about 10 cents a dose.
After they saw the effectiveness of our campaign in Central and South America, Non-government agencies they came to Rotary and asked us to work with them.
In conjunction with the World Health Organisation, UNISF and Centre for Disease Control, Rotary is committed to eradicating Polio from our world.
This week, WHO removed Nigeria from the list of polio-endemic countries following all samples in the polio laboratory being tested negative for wild poliovirus for a whole year following the most recent case on 24 July 2014. This is the first time that Nigeria has interrupted transmission of wild poliovirus, bringing the country and the African region closer than ever to being certified polio-free.
So, from 160 endemic countries in 1978, through the physical efforts and fundraising around the world by Rotarians, Philanthropic Trusts, Foundations like the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation and others, there are only 2 countries in the world not free of Polio, Afghanistan and Pakistan but numbers there are declining.
So why should be support the effort to eradicate polio?
Because we promised the children of this world, that we would eradicate polio from the face of this earth.
PDG Brian Trenery.
Chair. District 9780 Rotary Foundation Committee