Polio Challenge
PolioPlus, the most ambitious program in Rotary’s history, is the volunteer arm of the global partnership dedicated to eradicating polio.
For more than 20 years, Rotary has led the private sector in the global effort to rid the world of this crippling disease. Today, PolioPlus and its role in the initiative is recognized worldwide as a model of public-private cooperation in pursuit of a humanitarian goal.
In addition to providing financial and volunteer support, Rotary works to urge support from other public and private sector partners. This includes the campaign to End Polio Now, inspired by the extraordinary challenge grants received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Read Voice of America news article as reported from Australia August 2010
Kick Polio out of Africa
Just wondered if anyone is following the movement of the football that left Cape Town on 23rd February 2010.
It arrived in Montreal in time for the Convention and will have travelled through 22 countries in Africa. Just the logistics of moving and keeping the ball safe is an amazing feat.
You can find the blog on kickpoliooutofafrica.wordpress.com
An Australian Connection
In 1978-'79 CLEM RENOUF from R C Nambour, Queensland was Rotary's World President and launched a program allowing and encouraging clubs to combine for major projects.
The fight against small pox showed diseases could be eradicated. No-one was really thinking about ridding the world of polio until Sir Clem was returning from a meeting in the Philippines. The story is detailed in a transcript of ABC TV 7:30 report, 7 April 2010
The Final Inch - see the trailer
This Academy Award-nominated 38-minute documentary follows health workers, including Rotarian volunteers, as they immunize children in India.
A review
Few people have any real idea of the conditions of life in parts of India and this film gives an excellent view of the challenges of life in the slums, especially regarding health and sanitation. You see polio vaccination volunteers, Rotary members and health workers plodding through garbage, crossing rivers and facing extreme suspicion and prejudice as they try to reach every child. Once they reach a family, we see them labor to convince the parents that they are not there to hurt their baby, but to prevent it from getting polio, a disease that can cripple and kill. Yes, polio still exists in the world and ruins thousands of lives a year. It really opened my eyes and I can't recommend this film enough.
The long awaited DVD on the struggle to eradicate Polio, "The Final Inch" is now for sale on Amazon.com. It costs US$7.50 and US$2 of each sale goes to the PolioPlus. It's been translated into 19 languages. You can order it at this link .
More details of this film at www.thefinalinch.org (click on screenings at the bottom of the home page)
Communities are more likely to contribute to Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge if they know that ending polio will
• Spare children forever from death and disability caused by the disease
• Save an estimated US$1 billion per year that could be spent on addressing other public health concerns
Rotary clubs and districts can use World Polio Day in October , a Saturday, to launch or conclude a full week of activities. For example, clubs could arrange screenings of The Final Inch at one or more community theaters.
For more examples of ways to observe World Polio Day, go to www.rotary.org and search challenge grant fundraising ideas. In a scene from The Final Inch, members of an immunization team carry oral polio vaccine to a village in India. Courtesy of Vermilion Pictures