From humble beginnings in the Philippines, Rotary's effort to eradicate polio has had great impact across the globe. Club Polio Chair Russ Sommerfeld shares more about this important work.
For more than 40 years, the eradication of polio from the world has become a signature project for Rotary International (RI) in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
On 29 September 1979, volunteers administered drops of oral polio vaccine to children at a health center in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, Philippines. The event in metropolitan Manila was arranged and attended by Rotarians and delegates from the Philippine Ministry of Health. When James L. Bomar Jr., then RI president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child’s mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Rotary’s first Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grant project was underway.
Bomar and Enrique M. Garcia, the country’s minister of health, had earlier signed an agreement committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint multiyear effort to immunize about 6 million children against polio, at a cost of about $760,000.
In a 1993 interview, Bomar reminisced about the trip. He recalled how the brother of one of the children he had immunized tugged on his pant leg to get his attention and said, ‘Thank you, thank you, Rotary.’
The project’s success led Rotary to make polio eradication a top priority. Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985 and was a founding member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Through decades of commitment and work by Rotary and our partners, more than 2.5 billion children have received the oral polio vaccine.” (from https://www.rotary.org/en/history-rotary-polio-eradication-efforts/). Currently, only Pakistan and Afghanistan have active live polio cases.
Three actions are urgently needed to end polio once and for all in the world: Strengthen routine polio immunization, ensuring all infants receive several doses of polio vaccines before one year of age. Detect polio cases in a timely manner. Rapidly respond to outbreaks with high-quality vaccination campaigns.
Thus, Seward Rotary continues its collaboration with the 46,000+ Rotary clubs around the globe to continue the battle to eliminate this paralyzing disease from the world.