Polio - we inch closer to our goal

AG Deb Gimblett and husband Nev report back
to District Conference on their visit to India to take part
in a National Immunization Day

Recent successes in India’s relentless effort to eradicate polio are raising hopes that the goal is in sight. The incidence of the disease is at a record low, with only one case reported in 2011, as of 1 March, and just 42 in all of 2010. That compares with 741 cases the year before.
A major factor is the widespread use of the bivalent oral polio vaccine, which is effective against both types of the poliovirus. Another is rigorous monitoring, which helped reduce the number of children missed during National Immunization Days (NIDs) to less than 1 percent in 2010, compared with 14 percent in 2009, according to the World Health Organization.
During NIDs in January and February, Rotarians helped immunize children, organize free health camps and polio awareness rallies; and distribute banners, caps, face masks, comic books, and other items to children. Sporting signature yellow vests and caps, the volunteers fanned out to sites including schools, train stations, and bus depots across the country.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation campus
under construction in Seattle, Washington, USA,
is illuminated with an End Polio Now message.
Photo by Matt Flor/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Teams of visiting Rotarians from Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom also took part in activities related to the 23 January NID, which immunized 174 million children.
In Veraval, Gujarat, a city of about 340,000 people, Rotarians and others worked at more than 100 immunization booths.  The town clearly bought into the whole project, and kids were flowing into the booths for immunizations,reports a Group Study Exchange team from District 9980 (New Zealand).


By Dan Nixon Rotary International News -- 15 March 2011