PolioPlus - Rotary International's Worldwide Campaign
Milestone for Rotary as Africa is declared polio-free
Rotarians in Maidenhead who have supported the global effort to eradicate polio have welcomed the news Africa is finally free from the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) said today the Africa region has officially been certified wild polio-free. Polio is a debilitating disease mainly affecting children. It can cause paralysis and even death. The milestone is the result of decades of effort from Rotary clubs and volunteers around the world, who have fund-raised, campaigned and worked tirelessly since Rotary pledged to rid the world of polio more than 30 years ago.
Members of the Rotary Club of Maidenhead have been at the forefront of the battle at every level. For years they have worked to raise funds for mass vaccinations and even provided volunteers to help in immunisation programmes abroad. Rotarian Mike Holness, who volunteered to help deliver immunisation programmes in India in 2004 and 2011, welcomed the news Africa was wild-polio free. “It’s great news. It will make an enormous difference to countless lives. But it reminds us that we cannot relax our commitment in the battle against polio any more than we can relax against the current Covid-19 virus in the UK,” he said.
The certification comes four years after Nigeria, the last polio-endemic country in Africa, recorded its final case of wild polio. It means of the WHO’s six regions, five – accounting for 90 per cent of the world’s population – are free from polio. Globally, more than 2.5billion children have been protected against the disease, which has reduced the number of cases by 99.9 per cent - down from about 1,000 cases per day in 125 countries.
Members of the Rotary Club of Maidenhead have been at the forefront of the battle at every level. For years they have worked to raise funds for mass vaccinations and even provided volunteers to help in immunisation programmes abroad. Rotarian Mike Holness, who volunteered to help deliver immunisation programmes in India in 2004 and 2011, welcomed the news Africa was wild-polio free. “It’s great news. It will make an enormous difference to countless lives. But it reminds us that we cannot relax our commitment in the battle against polio any more than we can relax against the current Covid-19 virus in the UK,” he said.
The certification comes four years after Nigeria, the last polio-endemic country in Africa, recorded its final case of wild polio. It means of the WHO’s six regions, five – accounting for 90 per cent of the world’s population – are free from polio. Globally, more than 2.5billion children have been protected against the disease, which has reduced the number of cases by 99.9 per cent - down from about 1,000 cases per day in 125 countries.
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Rotary Club of Maidenhead president Mary Spinks said: “This is a terrific landmark in the battle to eradicate polio. Although it has been many years since polio has been present in the UK and Ireland, we are proud to have contributed to the global efforts to eliminate the disease for good.” For Mary the spectre of polio is very real. She vividly recalls an outbreak in her home city of Cork, Ireland, in 1956 when she was a schoolgirl. She said: “The city became a ghost town. Everybody was terrified of catching it and it almost ruined my father’s business which was in the city centre. It was a terrible time.” Mary continued: “We remain committed to making a polio-free world a reality. If we don’t finish the job, it is estimated that within 10 years, as many as 200,000 children annually all over the world could succumb to polio, including here in the UK. The virus can literally be a plane ride away so vaccination is vital.”
Members of the club will be busy raising awareness of the battle against the disease for World Polio Day, on October 24, by planting thousands of purple crocuses in Maidenhead. The colour signifies the purple dye used to mark the little fingers of children who have been vaccinated on mass immunisation days. Despite the significant milestone being reached, the job to fully rid the world of polio goes on, as the virus continues to circulate in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Vaccination programmes must continue to protect every last child and strengthen routine immunisation to keep immunity levels high, so the virus does not return. Rotary has directly contributed more than US$2 billion to ending polio since 1985, including thousands of pounds raised by Maidenhead Rotarians. |
Rotarians will be planting purple crocuses in October for World Polio Day
"Purple for polio" crocus
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Rotarian Mike Holness vaccinates a child against polio in India
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Mike & Frankie Holness twice took part in vaccination programmes in India.
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Maidenhead Rotarians on front line in battle against polio
Thanks largely to a decades-long campaign by Rotary, World Polio Day on 24th October 2019 marked the eradication of the second of three strains of the virus. With polio now endemic in just two countries. Rotarian Martin Trepte reports how Rotarians from Maidenhead have been on the front line in the worldwide battle to consign the disease to history.
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When Rotary as an international organisation pledged in 1985 to eradicate polio - a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease that mainly affects children under five - it was endemic in 125 countries.
By 2017, working with the World Health Organisation and Unicef, Rotarians had helped immunise more than 2.5 billion children causing a 99.9 per cent drop in cases from 350,000 to 22. And as of September there were only two countries left where the wild poliovirus was endemic – Pakistan and Afghanistan. Maidenhead’s Rotarians have been at the forefront of the battle against polio at every level. The town’s three clubs have for years worked to raise funds for mass vaccinations and even provided volunteers to help in immunisation programmes in places like India. Rotarian Judith Diment plays a key role as a member of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee – which steers the organisation’s campaign against the disease - and is also Rotary’s polio representative to the Commonwealth. So important is her personal contribution that in her last Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May paid tribute to Judith’s efforts. “That was unexpected but great profile for Rotary,” said Judith. “In the UK my role is as an advocacy advisor to liaise with the government to keep the finance coming. And to its credit, the UK is the second largest donor after the US.” |
Judith is heavily involved in organising a huge event in Abu Dhabi to encourage Governments to pledge the £3.2 billion needed for the final push against the disease.
She said: “We have made enormous progress. Two out of the three strains of polio have been eradicated. The strategy is now in place to get to zero cases and we should be on track to end polio by 2023. But with the end in sight we have to concentrate our efforts more than ever and not be complacent. The enormous benefits of our campaign have gone far beyond just polio – in India for example the infrastructure we set up has also been used to reduce measles by 45 per cent.” Maidenhead Rotarians Mike and Frankie Holness have first-hand experience in fighting polio. In 2004, and again in 2011, they volunteered for immunisation programmes in India, helping local Rotarians and health workers give the vaccine to hundreds of children. Mike said: “A friend of mine at school had polio so I knew first-hand the effect of it on families. When the opportunity came for Frankie and I to go to India and take part in an immunisation programme we were only too aware of the need to get rid of it.” Funds raised by Rotary paid for the massive logistical operation of organising the vaccinations, which took place across the country at the same time. |
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Representing Rotary on the world stage, Judith works to keep the battle against polio high on the international agenda of governments, NGOs and the EU, and at global forums such as the G7 and G20. At the end of October she was speaking at the World Health Summit in Berlin.
Rotary and its partners have drawn up a new strategy for 2019-2023 by when it is hoped the world will finally be declared polio-free. But to achieve that goal more than 400 million children in up to 60 countries have to receive multiple doses of the polio vaccine annually, with about two billion doses being administered. If Rotary eases up on its work it predicts there will be at least 200,000 cases worldwide within 10 years. |
Judith Diment plays a leading role on the world stage in Rotary’s battle to eradicate polio.
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The local Rotary club Frankie and Mike helped was responsible for 102 immunising booths in just one of Delhi’s slums.
Frankie added: “It was a remarkable experience and a privilege to work alongside the people who have been doing this for 30 years, four times a year. The vaccine is oral – just two drops on the tongue – so it doesn’t need any expertise to administer.” Drawing a parallel with measles, which has increased in the UK because of a fall in vaccinations, the couple said it is vital not to be complacent in the fight against polio. “We have to see this through to the end,” said Mike. |
Quote from Bill Gates
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Since 2013, the Gates Foundation has matched every $1 Rotary commits to polio eradication on a two for one basis which equates to $35 (£25) million per year. Rotary, together with matching funds from the Gates Foundation, has contributed more than $1.6 billion to end polio. If you would like to help or contribute to this worthwhile effort to stamp out polio from our planet please contact the Rotary Club of Maidenhead. |