History of Rotary's connection with Polio:
Rotary's involvement
in polio began in 1979 with a five-year commitment to provide and help deliver
polio vaccine to six million children of the Philippines. It was the
first project of the new Health, Hunger, and Humanity (3-H) program, and
was funded by a grant from Rotary International's 75th Anniversary
Fund. In the next four years, similar five-year commitments were
approved for Haiti, Bolivia, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Cambodia.
In the early 1980's Rotary
began planning for the most ambitious program in its history - to immunize
all the children of the world against polio. The plan envisioned
collaboration with international, national, and local health agencies to
help carry out this dream.
With the advice and support
of the late Dr. Albert Sabin, Rotary established its PolioPlus program in
1985. Rotary's pledge of US$120 million to fund its program,
announced in October of that year at the 40th anniversary of the United
Nations, electrified the global public health community. The goal
was determined by the cost of providing six doses of oral polio vaccine
(then US.04 cents apiece) for five years to 100 million newborns.
Within three years, Rotarians had more than doubled their goal, raising
US$247 million.
From 1986 to 1989, a Rotary
International Immunization Task force fanned out around the world to
marshal Rotary support, creating national volunteer corps in more than 90
countries and linking these corps to health ministries and to global
partners such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Between
1988 and 1990, for example, Rotarians supported national immunization
campaigns in 27 countries in South and Central America. In every
country they demonstrated how volunteers could mobilize society.
They applied business resources and know-how to help health workers
overcome the obstacles to vaccine delivery, and helped them maintain
vigilance against polio outbreaks.
Because of the success of
the national immunization day strategy in the Americas and other
countries, 166 nations committed themselves at the World Health Assembly
in 1988 to the goal of polio eradication by the year 2000.
Tremendous progress was made in the next 12 years. The number of
cases was reduced by 99 percent. The Western Hemisphere, Western
Pacific, and Europe became polio-free. But because of civil
conflict, inadequate funding, weak health infrastructures, and other
obstacles, 20 countries still had transmission of the polio virus at the
end of the year 2000. The year 2001 saw a further reduction to 10
endemic countries.
Rotary's role in polio
eradication has evolved over the past two decades. Its role was that
of a catalyst in the early days, providing money for vaccine and volunteer
help in overcoming the problems of its distribution. A Rotary
Foundation grant funded a core group of polio experts at WHO who have
guided the global program. In 1995, Rotary launched a task force to
advocate the cause of polio eradication to donor governments, resulting in
more than US$1.5 billion in polio-specific grants from the public
sector. In 2000, Rotary teamed with the United Nations Foundation to
carry a financial appeal to the private sector - foundations,
corporations, and wealthy individuals - an appeal that has raised
more than US$100 million. As the war on polio enters its final
phases, adequate funding is the number one obstacle to achieving a
polio-free world by the year 2005, Rotary's 100th anniversary. The
Polio Eradication Campaign, announced in February 2002, seeks US$80
million as a contribution to the funding gap, estimated at US$400 million
as of September 2001, by the World Health Organization.
The PolioPlus program is
unlike any other program in Rotary's 97 - year history. Its
financial commitment is now well over US$500 million. The
value of Rotarians' personal involvement cannot be calculated.
Rotarians have delivered vaccine by camels and helicopters, trucks and
motorbikes, staffed immunization posts, raised community awareness
of the value of immunization, and in the process have helped to mobilize
10 million volunteers.
The Global Polio
Eradication Initiative is recognized worldwide today as a model of
public/private cooperation in pursuit of a humanitarian goal. As the
leading private sector partner in this disease eradication program,
Rotary's image has been enormously enhanced. Its achievements have
vaulted Rotary into partnership with some of the world's leading
institutions.
Rotary's position today is
far different than in 1985 when it launched PolioPlus to a public health
community that doubted Rotary's long-term commitment as well as its
ability to do the job. WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland
recently praised Rotarians as the first with the vision of a polio-free
world, and the resolve to see the job done.
--Herbert A. Pigman,
Director, Polio Eradication Campaign
Past General Secretary, Rotary International
February 23, 2002
