On The Brink of Making History!
On Tuesday, October 24th, our Rotary Club in Melbourne Beach joined thousands of Rotary Clubs around the world and millions of Rotarians to mark World Polio Day. Rotary has celebrated World Polio Day over the past 10 years to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, and as a tribute to the men and women volunteers on the ground who have worked tirelessly, sometimes risking their own lives, to bring the polio vaccine to children in their countries.
There haven’t been any cases of polio in our own country since 1979, when the last case was reported in the U.S. I clearly remember getting my vaccination against polio because I was surprised and thrilled to get a sugary tasting drop on my tongue instead of a needle in my arm when I went to the doctor for my “shots’ that day. Since then, perhaps like many in the U.S., I never gave a second thought to polio – until I joined Rotary.
Rotarians do many great things in their communities and around the world on a daily basis; however, learning about, and watching how Rotary has attacked the problem of polio is inspiring. Like many projects Rotary takes on, the impetus for the project aimed at eradicating polio in the world, began with one Rotarian in one club in the Philippines. After a successful 5-year vaccination campaign, the Philippines was polio-free. With the success of that campaign, Rotary International decided to tackle the scourge of polio in the world by launching its Polio Plus campaign in 1985.
Other international health and governmental organizations joined in the effort to wipe out polio and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched. In 1988, there were an estimated 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries around the world, and members of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative worked assiduously to lower that number. By 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation decided to join in the effort. With the combined efforts the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, local health agencies around the world and millions of volunteer vaccinators on the ground, the number of polio cases in the world has been reduced to eleven – that’s right – just 11 cases remain in the world today in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
We are in, what Rotary International refers to as, “the end game.” The plan is to wipe out polio by 2018, and then, if no new cases appear within a three-year period, the world can be declared polio-free. It will be only the second time in history that a major life-threatening disease has been wiped off the face of the earth.
On Tuesday night, Rotarians and friends in Melbourne Beach gathered for a potluck dinner and watched a live-streamed World Polio Day event that was being broadcast from the Gates Foundation Headquarters. The shared dinner was part of what is known as “the world’s greatest meal.” The idea is to get together with friends and share a meal. Then you take up a collection and donate the proceeds to Rotary’s End Polio Now Campaign. The amount collected and donated is matched 2-to-1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, so whatever is donated by participants is tripled.
Together with our friends on Tuesday, we raised $500, which becomes $1500 when we turn it in to the Polio Plus Campaign. That amount, and all of the goodwill that went along with it, will make a difference toward ensuring a polio-free world.
If you would like to be a part of history and help end polio in the world, you can join in by clicking here https://www.endpolio.org/donate and donating any amount. Your donation will also be tripled by the Gates Foundation.
Let’s make history together!
Amy
