At this time of heightened concern for disease prevention, it’s appropriate to remember another deadly and debilitating disease that’s seen a recent resurgence. On October 24, Rotarians and others around the globe observe World Polio Day. For more than 35 years, Rotary International has been committed to the eradication of polio globally.
In anticipation of World Polio Day, the Council Bluffs Rotary Noon Club featured Gretchen Bren as their speaker on October 6 at the Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center to address the latest developments with polio.
Bren has been the Rotary District 5650 Polio Plus chair for the past several years and is also the immediate past chair of the Rotary Action Group for Polio Survivors. So, when she speaks about polio eradication, it comes from personal experience. In November 2008, Bren made her first polio immunization trip to Kaduna, Nigeria, and has since been there six more times. She has also traveled to Chad, Mali, India, Madagascar, and Pakistan for immunization projects in those countries. In light of those efforts, Bren received the Citation for Meritorious Service from the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation in 2012, and two years later, she was recognized again by the foundation with the International Service Award for a Polio-Free World.
To date, there has been a 99.9 percent worldwide reduction in polio cases over the past three decades. However, more vaccination efforts are required to eliminate the wild poliovirus from Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it is still endemic.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five. The virus is spread from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system and , in some instances, lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine – one which Rotary and its partners used to immunize more than 2.5 billion children worldwide.
Unless polio is eradicated, within ten years, as many as 200,000 new cases could occur annually around the world. In the past few years, only two countries have reported cases of polio caused by the wild virus, but no child anywhere is safe until every child is vaccinated.
In 1985, Rotary International launched PolioPlus, the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative with an initial fundraising target of $120 million. The International Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication announced that polio had been eliminated from the Americas in 1994. By the year 2000, a record 550 million children – almost 10 percent of the world's population – received the oral polio vaccine.
Rotary International asks each club member to make an annual contribution to the Polio Plus Campaign. During October, club programming is focused on education for this important health issue and why it is so important to continue these efforts.
The mission of Rotary Clubs is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. The Council Bluffs Rotary Noon Club has been serving Council Bluffs since 1915 with the leading purpose of “service above self.”
