Rotary and Polio

Overview of Rotary’s Polio Eradication Efforts – August 1, 2021

What is Polio?

Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a paralyzing and potentially fatal disease that primarily threatens children under the age of five. It still circulates in Afghanistan and Pakistan and invades the nervous system, potentially causing total paralysis. Polio can be prevented by vaccines, but it is not curable.

History

Rotary conducted its first polio immunization campaign in the Philippines in 1979 and based on its success launched its PolioPlus program in 1985 with a goal to raise US$100 million to immunize the world’s children against polio.
By 1988 Rotary members had raised US$247 million for polio immunization efforts which served as the catalyst for the World Health Assembly to adopt the resolution to eradicate polio in 1988.
At that time there were 350,000 cases of polio every year in 125 countries.
The resolution led to Rotary, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention founding the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) which was later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Rotary’s main role in polio eradication is:
fundraising to support the implementation of polio eradication activities
advocacy with donor governments who also provide funding to the GPEI
advocacy with polio-affected governments to ensure polio eradication remains a priority
raising awareness about the benefits of vaccination against polio and the need to finish the job
volunteer engagement including direct participation in polio immunization campaigns
To date, Rotary has committed over US$2.2 billion dollars and countless volunteer hours to the global effort to eradicate polio and today 19.4 million people who otherwise would have been paralyzed are walking due to these efforts and those of our partners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKLczqn3COU

The Importance of Fundraising

Rotary has a fundraising partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation matches 2 to 1 every dollar Rotary raises up to US$50 million per year resulting in US$150 million that is granted to the World Health Organization and UNICEF to carry out essential polio eradication activities.
In the last three Rotary years, despite the global pandemic, Rotary has reached its fundraising goal of US$50 million and has received the full match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
It is important for Rotary to meet its fundraising goal so that critical polio eradication activities can continue.
Rotary funds the following activities that are core to polio eradication:
vaccines with which to immunize children
supporting the delivery system to get the vaccines to children
raising awareness in communities about the importance of vaccination and opportunities to get vaccinated
the surveillance system that is critical to detecting virus
technical experts in the polio-affected and high-risk countries to guide polio eradication efforts

Polio Status Update

We are pleased to see the progress in polio eradication with only two cases of wild poliovirus reported so far this year--one each in Pakistan and Afghanistan (as of 28 July 2021). There is also a marked reduction in the number of positive polio isolates in the environment.
And while this is great news, we cannot become complacent even when the case numbers are low. Now is the time to redouble our efforts and capitalize on the progress we have made.
While the poliovirus circulates anywhere in the world, it is a risk to children everywhere. Rotary’s funds help immunize up to 400 million children each year to sustain high levels of immunity against the poliovirus which requires hundreds of thousands of frontline workers going house to house to immunize children under the age of five multiple times per year.
Rotary’s funds also help to further increase and sensitize disease surveillance systems to detect the poliovirus in a person or the environment to know exactly where it may be circulating so a response can be mounted quickly.
As we get closer to our goal, we will rely upon this surveillance system to prove that we have interrupted transmission of the poliovirus which will be required to certify the world polio-free.

The Polio Campaign Helps Combat Other Diseases

Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have built a vast infrastructure to implement polio eradication activities and reach every child with the vaccine.
This infrastructure includes 145 laboratories with technicians and surveillance medical officers around the world that investigate suspected cases of polio, conduct contact tracing, and test specimens that are collected from either a child or from sewage samples.
The infrastructure also includes hundreds of thousands of frontline vaccinators and community mobilizers who immunize children multiple times per year and educate parents and communities about the benefits of vaccinating against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.
Technical Medical Officers provide expertise to polio eradication efforts at the national, provincial, and local level.
The polio eradication infrastructure has been used to address other health emergencies such as Ebola in Nigeria and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic.
For COVID-19 polio surveillance medical officers investigated cases of polio and COVID-19, conducted contact tracing, and the polio laboratories tested COVID samples as well.
Polio technical medical officers provided training to frontline workers who educated communities on COVID safety measures including social distancing, handwashing and wearing personal protection equipment.
Rotary is proud that the infrastructure built for polio has contributed to the COVID-19 response.

Praise for Rotary

Bill Gates, Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 16 June 2021

The persistence of countless Rotarians gives me hope that we can achieve a polio-free world. I’d like to thank Rotary for the continued partnership.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO, 24 October 2019

This World Polio Day, I have two messages. The first is a simple and wholehearted ‘Thank You’ to Rotary. Everything you have done has brought us to the brink of a polio-free world. Second, I ask you to redouble your efforts for this last push. We cannot succeed without you.”

Karina Gould, Minister of International Development, Canada, 1 May 2021

It’s been a wonderful partnership to work with Rotary in advancing the fight against polio and we’ve seen so much success over the past 30+ years …the fact that Rotary and Rotarians have remained committed to the fight against polio is something that I take to heart and really appreciate. It’s individuals with big hearts in their communities around the world that have led to this important milestone that we’ve reached. We haven’t eradicated polio yet but we’re very close and we’re going to get to the finish line.

Trent Zimmerman, Member of Parliament, Australia, 26 August 2020

Amidst the gloom of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been some positive and, indeed, exciting news on the global health front. Today, health authorities have declared the entire African continent free of wild polio. It means that polio can be found now only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in very small numbers. This is a stunning achievement for the global health community. It is also a credit to those who have worked to fundraise for the international efforts to eliminate polio, particularly Rotary International, which has led the charge by making the elimination of polio their global mission for many years. Every one of the tens of thousands of Australian Rotarians can be proud of their contribution to this outcome.