Rotary members in London and across the world are cautiously celebrating
a major milestone in the global effort to eradicate the crippling disease polio. India, until
recently an epicentre of the wild poliovirus, has completed a full calendar year without
recording a new case since January 13th 2010.
Until tests come back from surveillance teams, it will not be confirmed that India is officially
clear of polio for the past year. It will be a further two years of successful tests before the
country is declared polio free. The 12-month milestone in India, where the last reported
case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal, continues the progress of 2010, when the
country recorded only 42 polio cases out of 1,352 worldwide.
The milestone is seen as a testament to the determination of Rotary members in Great
Britain and Ireland and the rest of the world, especially the 116,000-plus Rotarians of
India, to eradicate the infectious disease through the mass immunisation of children, a goal Rotary took on 27 years ago.
Rotary launched its polio eradication programme in 1985 and, in 1988, became a
spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with the World Health
Organisation, UNICEF, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Since
then, new cases of polio have plummeted by more than 99 percent, from more than
350,000 cases a year to only 604 reported so far for 2011.
RIBI President Ray Burman is immensely proud of the polio eradication effort by
Rotary: “Every Rotarian, everywhere supports this incredible campaign. We raise funds
and we support Rotarians in India and other endemic countries. Rotary members in India
have worked diligently month after month, year after year, to help organise and carry out
the National Immunisation Days that reach millions of children with the oral polio vaccine,
saving millions of young lives from this terrible disease.
“This is potentially the beginning of the end of polio in India but we must not be complacent. The disease can flare up suddenly so the vaccination programme must continue to make sure that no more children are struck by this curse.”
Rotary in London District Governor Trevor Johnson said: “Here in London Rotarians have
worked with communities to raise funds for this life-saving campaign. It is incredible to think that every penny raised is helping to spare children from this crippling and sometimes fatal disease. It has taken over 25 years but there is a lot of good news here and we are all hoping that tests will show that India is on the road to recovery.
“Marching ahead, the goal now is to sustain this momentum. There are Rotarians from London who are going out to Delhi to help with the National Immunisation Day next month. Their efforts will save the lives of millions.
“I’d like to thank everyone for supporting all our fundraisers and for helping in the drive to
make polio history. If you would like to know more about how Rotary has helped eradicate
polio, please do get in touch.”
If all ongoing testing for polio cases through January 13th continues to yield negative
results, India will be declared by the World Health Organisation to have interrupted
transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus, laying the groundwork for its removal from the
polio-endemic countries list, shared with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
However, other countries remain at risk for cases imported from the endemic countries,
which is why immunisations in India and other endemic and at-risk countries will continue.
Neighbouring Pakistan, which has reported 181 cases so far for 2011, is a major threat
to India’s continued polio-free status. In 2011, a polio outbreak in China, polio-free for a
decade, was traced genetically to Pakistan.
If you would like to know more about Rotary, contact your local Rotary club and discover
how you can make a world of a difference.
