‘Realistic hope of making Pakistan polio-free by end of this year’

Stakeholders aim to go for a final push on Oct 24, the World Polio Day,
to achieve the goal of eradicating the disease from the country

There is a realistic hope of eradicating polio from Pakistan by interrupting transmission of polio virus by the end of 2016, said Rotary International’s PolioPlus Committee Chair Michael K McGovern in connection with the World Polio Day falling on October 24.

The World Polio Day is observed by Rotary International globally on October 24 to honor Dr Jonas Salk – the developer of a vaccine against polio. It is because of the polio vaccine that historic progress has been made towards a polio-free world. 

“Pakistan has made significant progress this year and polio cases are down almost 80 percent as compared to same time last year,” McGovern said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The Pakistan National PolioPlus Committee, Rotary International is organising a World Polio Day Summit at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad on October 24 to enable all stakeholders including the Pakistan government, the WHO, the Rotary International, the Unicef, the BMGF, and funding partner countries to meet at a common forum and raise awareness, funds and support to end polio – a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today. 

McGovern expressed his confidence that taking into account the missionary zeal with which the various stakeholders have been working, polio would be eradicated from Pakistan by the end of this year.

Aziz Memon, Rotary’s National PolioPlus Committee Chair for Pakistan, said he was optimistic that the challenges would not deter them and Pakistan would soon become polio free.

“The world is 99 percent polio free. We are ‘this close’ to ending polio and need the world leaders to support the ‘final push’ now while the goal has never been closer, or face the potential consequences of a new polio pandemic that could disable hundreds of thousand children within a decade,” he added.

Polio is set to become the second human disease ever to be eliminated from the world (smallpox is the first). To date, Rotary has helped 193 countries stop the transmission of polio through the mass immunization of children. Rotary’s new funding commitment, targets countries where children remain at risk of contracting this incurable, but totally vaccine-preventable, disease.

Rotary has provided this year (September 2016) more than $12 million in grant funding to polio eradication initiative partners Unicef and the WHO, which work with the governments and Rotary club members of polio-affected countries to plan and carry out immunization activities. Mass immunization of children via the oral polio vaccine must continue until global eradication is achieved. 

Rotary’s flagship event, the first to be held at the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, will be streamed live at 6pm EST and then be available for viewing anytime at endpolio.org.

Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. In 1988, Rotary was joined by the WHO, UNICEF and the CDC to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Visit rotary.org and endpolio.org for more about Rotary and its efforts to eradicate polio. Video and still images will be available on the Rotary Media Centre. 

Since Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative nearly 30 years ago, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 26 confirmed as of Sept. 19, 2016.  To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, experts say $1.5 billion is urgently needed. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to previously polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. 

Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion to ending polio since 1985 worldwide.