This Wednesday, A Meeting You Don’t Want to Miss

In the entire history of the world only one disease – smallpox - has been eradicated from the face of the earth.  Now through a massive international effort, polio is close to being the second.  And we initiated the entire project.

The eradication of polio is Rotary International’s #1 priority.  We hear about it from time to time, but most of us know very little about what we are doing, and what the odds are for reaching our goal.

This is an epic tale which began when oral traditions were the only source of record keeping.  Through epidemics, scientific discoveries, impossible religious, cultural, geographic, military, and economic barriers to eradication efforts, and astounding acts of heroism and terrible acts of, literally, evil, it is the remarkable human actions that are the basis of this monumental effort to rid the world of this disease.  These are stories that the world has yet to hear about.

At our meeting this week we have someone who can share just some of what we have done and what we are continuing to do as we get closer to fulfilling our promise to the children of the world to eliminate this dreadful disease.

For the past quarter of a century, Carol Pandak has been the Director of Rotary International’s Polio Eradication program.

She is the liaison to Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, the volunteer committee that provides policy guidance to the PolioPlus program.  She works closely with the partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) including WHO, UNICEF, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Carol’s work has taken her all over the world where she has monitored polio immunization campaigns and participated in high-level technical and stakeholder meetings.

She is not only a member of the staff of Rotary International, she is a member of the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary club.