February 2014

News of D5170 and Beyond TRF NewsToday ROTARY DISTRCICT 5170 FEBRUARY 2013 A B O U T THE ROTARY U.S. commits $205 million to eradication FOUNDATION President Barack Obama signed an omnibus health care infrastructure, experience, and ex- appropriations bill in January that provides pertise that is already being used to benefit a The Rotary Foun- $205 million to support polio eradication in broad range of global public health efforts," 2014, through the U.S. Centers for Disease says James Lacy, chair of Rotary's Polio Eradi- dation enables Ro- Control and Prevention and U. S. Agency for cation Advocacy Task Force for the United tarians to advance International Development. States and past president of Rotary Interna- world understand- tional. The largest government donor to polio eradi- ing, goodwill, and cation, the U.S. has contributed more than The task force leads Rotary's efforts to inform peace through the $2.3 billion since the mid-1980s, when 125 the U.S. government and other funding improvement of countries were polio endemic and the disease sources of the urgency and benefits of sup- afflicted 350,000 people annually. Today, only porting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative health, the sup- Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are endemic, (GPEI). port of education, and in 2013, the combined incidence of polio One of Rotary's chief responsibilities in the in those countries fell to a record-low 157 and the alleviation GPEI is advocacy. In addition to contributing cases. Last month , India reached a three-year of poverty. more than $1.2 billion to the initiative, Rotary milestone without polio, paving the way for has helped secure over $9 billion from donor the entire Southeast Asia region to be certified governments since the GPEI was launched in free of the disease. 1988. Inside this issue: "Eradicating polio will leave a lasting legacy of Polio News 1-3 Ellison commits $100 million to eradication Giving to Date 4-5 Larry Ellison, owner of software giant Ora- Announcing the donation to be made by the Peace Fellows 6-8 cle has announced his plans to donate the sum Lawrence Ellison Foundation, Bill Gates stated of $100 million through his Lawrence Ellison that the tremendous efforts being made to 9 Tools for Success Foundation to the Global Polio Eradication eradicate the polio disease is making tremen- Initiative (GPEI). dous headway, as is possible to say that we are approaching the final stages. Ellison’s donation comes in the light of the tremendous progress being made to gradually “We knew this last push would be the hardest eradicate the disease, especially in the world’s and the lack of resources can’t be what stands developing countries, and is part of a drive on in the way of delivering on the promise of a the part of the GPEI to raise $5.5 billion over world without polio. Larry Ellison’s generous the next six years to finally eradicate polio donation will help to ensure that all children from the list of the world’s major illnesses. are protected from this and other vaccine- preventable diseases,” summed up Gates. Thanks to Ellison’s generosity, there are now 10 philanthropists who have pledged more The GPEI was first launched in 1988, thanks than $500 million to the fund, which will be to the considerable efforts of national govern- added to the $1.8 billion already promised by ments, the World Health Organization the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To date, (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers a total of 35 donors, either governments or for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as private organizations have committed to a to- well as with their initiatives being supported tal of $4 billion in pledges to support the GPEI. by a number of key partners. Rotary responds to polio emergency in Syria EVANSTON, Ill., USA (Dec. 10, 2013) — Rotary Interna- tect children in Syria and throughout the region, and that tional will provide a US$500,000 emergency response is the purpose of this grant,” said Dr. Robert S. Scott, chair grant to support efforts to quell a recent outbreak of the of Rotary’s PolioPlus program. “Rotary and our partners in crippling disease polio in strife-torn Syria. The funds are the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are working together the first to the World Health Organization in direct sup- with local health authorities to activate the outbreak report of a Global Polio Eradication Initiative plan aimed at sponse.” outbreak response throughout the Middle East, as the re- He noted that the cases in Syria appear to be “imported” gion gears up for a multi-country response to the threat of from Pakistan, one of three countries where the wild po- polio. liovirus remains endemic. “These and other recent polio As of Dec. 9, there have been 17 cases of wild poliovirus cases in previously polio-free countries serve as stark re- confirmed in Syria since October, the first reported cases minders that as long as polio still exists anywhere in the in the country since 1999. The Rotary grant to the World world, all unimmunized children everywhere remain at Health Organization will support immediate response ac- risk,” Scott said. tivities in late 2013 and January 2014, such as the establish- Today, seven countries across the region rolled out vac- ment of emergency response control rooms and initial cination campaigns aiming to reach 22 million children. vaccination rounds to immunize children in Syria and sur- These campaigns are planned to be repeated over the next rounding countries against polio. 6 months to protect children in the region from the polio “It is imperative that we stop this outbreak quickly to pro- outbreak. Rotary celebrates India’s third polio-free year Rotary members worldwide are celebrating a major mile- underscoring the importance of stopping the virus where stone in the global effort to eradicate polio: India, until it remains endemic. recently an epicenter of the wild poliovirus, marked the “We must now stop polio in Pakistan to both protect Pa- third anniversary of its last recorded case of the paralyzing kistani children and to safeguard our success in India and infectious disease on 13 Jan. other countries where we have beaten this terrible dis- On the same day in 2011, a two-year old girl suffered po- ease,” says Deepak Kapur, who chairs Rotary’s India Na- lio paralysis in Howrah district of West Bengal. Since then, tional PolioPlus Committee. “Until polio is finally eradicat- India has not reported any new cases of wild poliovirus. ed globally, all unvaccinated children will remain at risk of infection and paralysis, no matter where they live.” Leaders see the 13 Jan. milestone as a testament to the determination of Rotary’s international membership of 1.2 Rotary leaders in India are working with their Pakistani million men and women – and especially the 122,000 Ro- counterparts to share best practices and lessons learned tarians in India – to eradicate polio through the mass im- during India’s successful anti-polio campaign. Rotary was munization of children, a goal Rotary took on in 1985. particularly effective in obtaining the support of influential religious leaders in India’s Islamic communities, and Paki- In celebration of the decades-long battle and ultimate vic- stani Rotary leaders are playing a similar role in efforts to tory over this disabling disease in India, Rotary clubs counter rumors and misinformation about polio vaccina- throughout the country illuminated landmarks and iconic tions that keep some Muslim parents from allowing their structures on Jan. 13 with Rotary’s dramatic message – children to be immunized. ‘India is Polio Free’. Meanwhile, National Immunization Days – during which Rotary says the challenge now is to replicate India’s suc- Rotary volunteers join with health workers in an effort to cess in neighboring Pakistan, one of three remaining polio- reach every child under age five with the oral polio vac- endemic countries. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the others. cine -- continue in both countries. In India alone, more Collectively, they create a reservoir from which the op- than 172 million children receive the vaccine during these portunistic disease can emerge to re-infect areas where it mass immunization campaigns. had been previously stopped. So-called “imported cases” are occurring now in Syria and several African countries. This month District 5170’s own PDG Brad Howard is In 2013, imported cases in non-endemic countries out- leading a team of 24 Rotarians from the US, Canada and numbered the total in the endemic countries 224 to 145, Australia to continue the fight against Polio in India. P A G E 3 Total cases Year-to-date 2014 Year-to-date 2013 Total in 2013 Globally 11 2 400 - in endemic countries 11 2 160 - in non-endemic countries 0 0 240 Polio Updates from around the globe - See more at: http://www.polioeradication.org/ Afghanistan children being paralyzed by polio Immunization activity with bOPV 1 new WPV1 case was reported. in all of Asia. targeting children up to age nine Total number of cases for 2013 is The Peshawar valley is considered took place in January. the main engine of transmission. 14 and for 2014 the total is 2. All West Africa but one were reported close to Genetic sequencing of a sample No new WPV cases were report- Pakistan border. indicates a link to virus detected ed. No new cases reported of vaccine in Afhanistan. Multi-country synchronized im- -derived poliovirus (cVDPV2). munization campaigns will take Subnational immunization days Chad, Cameroon and CAR place in West Africa in Apr. and (sNIDs) were conducted in Feb In Chad, Cameroon, and CAR no new cases were reported.

Load more