The Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) goal is to prevent the world’s children from becoming paralyzed by polio ever again. The GPEI is a public-private partnership led by national governments with six partners: the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Gates Foundation and Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
The recent detection of variant poliovirus type-2 isolated in environmental samples and the confirmation of a 10-month-old child who has contracted polio in Gaza, is a stark reminder that as long as polio exists anywhere, it is a threat everywhere. The ongoing crisis in Gaza has contributed to reduced routine immunization rates and an increased risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio. The crisis also poses a significant challenge to fully implementing disease surveillance and vaccination campaigns.
Poliomyelitis (polio virus) is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and can lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine—one that Rotary and its partners used to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide. Prasad Menon, a Rotarian from the Simsbury-Granby Rotary club, participated in National Immunization Programs against polio in India and Nigeria.
A humanitarian pause in Gaza allowed a two-round polio vaccination campaign in September. The campaign has highly dedicated health teams and high levels of community participation. During this campaign, over 640,000 children under 10 years of age in central and southern Gaza have been vaccinated.
Oral vaccinations were provided at hospitals, medical points, primary care centers, displaced persons’ camps, key public gathering spaces, food and water distribution points, and transit routes. Additionally, mobile teams visited tents and hard to-reach areas to ensure they reached families who were unable to visit permanent sites.
Rotary has committed $500,000 to bolster this initiative, channeling these funds through a dedicated Polio Outbreak Response Fund. This is a part of Rotary’s $50 million annual contribution until polio is eradicated. Financial contributions to the PolioPlus fund will help Rotary and its Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners achieve a world in which no child is paralyzed by polio again. Polio is still endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
You can help Rotary’s efforts to eradicate this devastating disease by donating at rotary.org/donate under featured causes, select the Polio Fund. We can be reached at info@SimsburyGranbyRotary.org for more information.
Submitted by Karen Young, Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club