Today is World Polio Day, emphasizing the final effort to eliminate polio from our planet. As there is no cure, the best protection is prevention.
For as little as 60 cents worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. With a Rotary International investment of $1.2 billion, and the successful engagement of over 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, vaccinating more than 2 billion children, polio could be the first disease of the 21st century to be eradicated.
We recall the fears of growing up near the banks of the Walla Walla River in the 1950s. Polio was the current pandemic. Parents kept their children away from the untreated waters of streams and rivers for fear of catching this dreaded life-threatening and debilitating disease. Public health officials blamed poorly treated sewage from upstream offenders.
Then the great news appeared in 1955. Dr. Jonas Salk had found a vaccine that could stop the disease cold if everyone participated. The human continuation vector could be upset and the disease eradicated. Thus the programs started in the schools to promote our immortality through our children.
We had shots, then sugar cubes and other improvements. By 1985, Rotary International was sponsoring the largest private-sector support of a global health initiative ever, a worldwide effort to wipe out polio with three drops of a mixed vaccine to every child around the world.
One could ponder that the 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide should be able to terminate this disease in the following 30 years. But, it has proved to be a tough little beast. It only takes one human immigrant carrier to re-infect the nonvaccinated. It could even happen via a trans-ocean air flight to our own turf and contact with an unvaccinated child.
Immigration, sanitation and remote enclaves are tough factors when one understands that the vaccine must be kept refrigerated from source to final use. Consider a bush pilot flying the vaccine to a river landing, transferring the vaccine to a dugout canoe, then on the back of a courier or donkey for a day or two, finally arriving at a remote village with no electricity. This is what it sometimes takes, assuming the village elders have approved this intervention.
And since nomadic humans can be carriers, the self-protection vaccination effort must be continued until the disease is completely eradicated.
The message today is "We are this close!" In 1985, there were over 350,000 polio cases reported in 125 countries. Wild polio virus now has been isolated to four countries, Afghanistan and India report only one case each this year, with only five in Nigeria and 32 in Pakistan.
Rotary is making a last push to finish the job. As of September, Rotarians raised $190 million toward Rotary's $200 Million Challenge to match $355 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Overall, Rotarians have leveraged their $1.2 billion to over $8 billion since starting the program. England and Germany are in with $150 million and $130 million respectively. Experience with re-occurrence from travelers makes this effort highly important.
Several Rotarians in the Tri-Cities, including ourselves, have been direct participants in National Polio Immunization Days in the regions of concern, administering the vaccine alongside the local caregivers. It is an uplifting experience to know that we can all be a part of this effort. Talk to a Rotarian. Consider contributing to the final push. Just $5 protects eight children.
We all have much to gain by eradicating this disease and giving hope to all parents and assurance to the children. We're this close!
For more information, visit www.thisclose.net.
-- Gary and Kris Troyer are members of Pasco-Kennewick Rotary and serve as co-chairs for Rotary District 5080's Polio-Plus committee.
