International Perspective
Rotary announces Sh3.5 Billion to support a Polio-Free World
The Rotary club has committed an additional Sh3.5 billion($ 35 million) in grants to support the global effort to end polio, bringing the humanitarian service organization’ s contribution to Sh10.5 billion($ 105 million) in 2016.
The announcement follows recent reports of three new cases of wild poliovirus in Nigeria: two cases in July, and one in August. The three cases are the first to be detected in Nigeria since July 2014. With these cases, funding for polio eradication is particularly vital as rapid response plans are now in action in Nigeria and surrounding countries to stop the outbreak quickly and prevent its spread. Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative( GPEI) are acting to immunize children in Nigeria and countries in the Lake Chad Basin( Chad, northern Cameroon, southern Niger and the Central African Republic).
Nearly one-fourth of the funds Rotary announced today($ 8.15 million) will support the emergency response campaigns in this at-risk region, and last month Rotary provided $ 500,000 to immediately assist with the outbreak response.
While significant strides have been made against the paralyzing disease, with just 26 cases reported in 2016, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas and conflict zones.
In Kenya, the risks of polio virus infections has been lowered by eliminating one of the three strains of the disease due to aggressive immunization in the past two years.
The wild poliovirus type 2( WPV2) was officially declared eradicated in the country following the destruction of over 1,000 isolates of the remaining live WPV2 in the Polio laboratory at the Kenya Medical Research Institute( KEMRI), Nairobi.
This leaves Scientists with only the poliovirus type 1 and 3 cases, which can strike at any age and can cause severe paralysis.
“ While we are disappointed with the recent news coming out of Nigeria, this situation underscores the extreme importance of widespread immunization campaigns and strong disease surveillance in all countries of the world until polio is fully eradicated,” said Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’ s
International PolioPlus Committee.“ This funding will help ensure that Rotary and our GPEI partners are doing all that we can to redouble our efforts and protect the progress in polio-free parts of the world, as well as stop transmission in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and now Nigeria.”
54 November-December 2016