WE ARE THIS CLOSE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL AND POLIO ERADICATION


O n October 17th , Kelowna


welcomed a very special guest speaker to the


Kelowna Community Theatre. John Hewko, General Secretary and CEO of Rotary International spoke to a group of about 500 people about the future of Rotary International and its priorities as the grassroots organization moves forward.


When Hewko spoke to the crowd in October, he laid out the five priorities for strengthening the organization. While membership growth and retention and humanitarian assistance were listed, the number one priority for Rotary International is a project that


started almost 30 years ago: the eradication of polio.


Rotary’s quest to eradicate polio began in 1985, when it launched its PolioPlus campaign. Polio is a debilitating disease that affects mostly young children under the age of five. It is a highly contagious viral infection that can lead to paralysis, breathing problems and even death. Approximately one in 200 cases lead to irreversible paralysis, while up to ten percent of those patients die when breathing muscles are no longer functioning. In the height of its epidemic in the mid 1950’s, there were over 76,000 reported cases of polio throughout Canada and the USA, western Europe, the former Soviet


BY MARJOLEIN LLOYD


Union, Australia and New Zealand. When the polio vaccine became readily available, there was a reduction of 99% of reported cases in 1967, after just 12 years of the use of the vaccination.


When Rotary International launched the Polio Plus campaign, it was the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative, with an initial pledge of US$120 million. Since then, massive immunization programs known as National Immunization Days (NID) have launched in many countries, in an effort to educate families on the importance and safety of the vaccine. The NIDs are conducted in two rounds, one month apart. Because the vaccine is given


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 


Rotary International


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