rotary's polio eradication campaign

the $100 million challenge

'Thanks for Life' will again be based around Rotary Day, 23rd February 2011, with funds raised going to the End Polio Now campaign.

World Action

The non endemic countries increase mainly due to cross border travel. There is concern over the ‘Horn of Africa’ – increased to 61 in 2009. This has prompted a ‘coordination meeting’ involving the health ministries of Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Uganda, and Somalia together with the WHO, CDC, UNICEF, and Gates Foundation. The meeting was to review the outbreaks response and plan for the remainder of 2009.

In September 2009 a new vaccine to cover Type 1 and Type 3 Polio will be introduced and used.

The tribal leaders in Nigeria are now becoming involved to ensure the population is reached for immunisation.

1070 Action

Thanks to all those Clubs – 66 – who contributed to the 1070 total of $153,000 to date. This includes the matching funds released by District.

Rotary Day 2010 – in District 1070

Maximise your Clubs fundraising for Polio during 20 – 28 February 2010 – including Rotary Day 23 February.

National and International Public Relations activities will be evident during that period. This gives Clubs the opportunity to fund raise against a background of positive media coverage.

Involve your Club in Purple Pinkie Events - named after the use of a purple felt pen to mark the little finger of every child immunised during a NID event in India and Nigeria.

Suggestions

Dinner & Speech
Does not have to be an expensive event. We all have local personalities who can speak and entertain – giving your Club the opportunity to present the Polio campaign to the guests.

Race Night
Simple Rotary fund raising used regularly which can create awareness of Rotary and Polio to the local community.

Purple Pinkie School Assembly
Present at a school assembly the story of Polio eradication – creating awareness and raising funds.

Wear something Purple Day
Combine the school assembly with wearing something purple – again create awareness and raise funds.

Concert – involve Youth Choir – Orchestra or Band
Again raise awareness and funds.

Council Dress Down Day
Persuade your local council office employees to dress down for a day – raise funds and awareness.

Major Companies Dress Down
If your Club has a major ‘office’ employee organisation a dress down day to raise funds and create awareness.

Hair and Beard Dye
Has your Club an extrovert who would dye his hair and beard purple to raise funds.

Head Shave
A club member to raise funds

Quiz night
Organise a quiz again to raise funds and awareness

The above are only a few suggestions – 1070 Clubs will have many more. All such activities generate their own media coverage on local radio and papers – which leads to greater fundraising and awareness of Rotary.

Please get involved in ‘Purple Pinkie’ and not only raise funds to eradicate Polio, but create awareness of Rotary in your community, giving you the opportunity to build membership.

Club Committees - can work together to raise funds and awareness.

Clubs can work together – in areas covered by local news papers for example.

Check regularly the RIBI web site and also the main RI site

www.rotary.org/endpolio.

Also

www.RIBI.org/thanks-for-life

for further information contact –

Rtn Stephen Bath
District 1070 Foundation Committee

About Polio:

In 1988, polio infected nearly 1,000 children every day. In 2007, fewer than 2,000 cases were reported for the entire year.

Although significant amounts of money have been raised and money is still coming in, more is still needed. Polio is now endemic in only parts of four countries world-wide – northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.  The major crisis of confidence affecting the program in Nigeria has been resolved, but the country remains a source of sporadic outbreaks in other parts of that region.  Occasional cases are reported elsewhere, carried by travellers from the above areas.  The eradication programme must carry on until there are NO reported cases.

"When Rotary started talking about polio, people listened"

- William Gates Sr.. co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The US$200 million funding agreement between Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation marks another milestone in Rotary’s 20-year legacy of polio eradication work. 

Rotary made a commitment to immunize the world’s children against polio in 1985 and became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative three years later. The other partners are the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.

Rotary’s primary responsibilities include fundraising, advocacy, and volunteer recruitment. To date, Rotary has contributed nearly $700 million to the eradication effort, an amount that will grow to more than $850 million by the time the world is certified polio-free.

With nearly 33,000 clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas, Rotary reaches out to national governments worldwide to generate crucial financial and technical support for polio eradication. Since 1995, the advocacy efforts of Rotary and its partners have helped raise more than $3 billion in vital funding from donor governments.

Rotary clubs also provide “sweat equity” on the ground in polio-affected communities, which helps ensure that leaders at all levels remain focused on the eradication goal. Over the years, Rotary club members have volunteered their time and personal resources to reach more than two billion children in 122 countries with the oral polio vaccine.

Thanks to Rotary and its partners, the number of polio cases has been slashed by more than 99 percent, preventing five million instances of childhood paralysis and 250,000 deaths. When Rotary began its eradication work, polio infected more than 350,000 children annually. In 2007, fewer than 2,000 cases were reported worldwide.

However, the polio cases represented by that final 1% will be the most difficult and expensive to prevent for a variety of reasons, including geographical isolation, worker fatigue, armed conflict, and cultural barriers.

That’s why it’s so important to generate the funding needed to finish the job. To ease up now would be to invite a polio resurgence that would condemn millions of children to lifelong paralysis in the years ahead.

The bottom line is this:

As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, all children – wherever they live – remain at risk.

Your contribution will help Rotary match a US$100 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The resulting $200 million will directly support immunization campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to rob children of their futures and compound the hardships faced by their families. 

As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, children everywhere remain at risk. The stakes are that high. By donating now, you can help Rotary achieve a polio-free world. 

The 'Iron Lung'

The Iron Lung was a reality of life for those with Polio until the 1950s/60s and is still in use in some places as the only means of keeping Polio sufferers alive.

Emmerson Respirators - 'Iron Lungs'

A child could spend hours, days or weeks in an Iron Lung.

 

In 2009, when we can put men on the Moon, children in third world countries are still suffering with Polio...