Rotarians Around the World

Confident that India would soon eradicate polio, Past District 6900 Governor Robert Hall led several U.S. Rotarians to Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) in Uttar Pradesh in November. The poverty stricken state in northern India was the epicenter of a 2006 polio outbreak. Rotary Foundation Major Donors Jim and Donna Philips, whose contribution to the PolioPlus Partners program helped fund the SNIDs, also traveled with the group. The team was encouraged by the collaboration among government officials, religious leaders, Indian Rotarians, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization. "This trip was the experience of a lifetime for all 20 Rotarians who visited Uttar Pradesh," says Hall, who pledged the continued support of District 6900 (Georgia, USA) and Zone 34 Rotarians. Hall's optimism on polio is shared by India's health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss. The minister told journalists at a mid-December press conference that despite the outbreak, he is confident that India will end polio with stepped-up immunizations. "In three years, we will do away with polio," he said. "We are at the end of the problem and will hit the final nail in the coffin." Julie Gerberding, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the same event that the outbreak "is a warning that we can't be complacent." She also noted that the last few cases of polio are the most difficult to deal with. India is countering the challenges of polio eradication through intensified immunizations with the monovalent oral polio vaccine. Because most of the reported cases in 2006 were from poor Muslim communities, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is working with religious leaders to persuade more families to have their children immunized. Partly because of the Muslim clerics' support, India reported an overall increase in turnout of children during SNIDs in July, September, and November.