10th March, 2015. Dear All,CONGRATULATIONS! Rotary Year 2014-15 continues with a clean slate on Polio in India.New polio cases due to wild polio virus reported this week – 0 Total polio cases due to wild polio virus in 2014/2015 – 0

Rotary Celebrated 110th Birthday on 23rd February. The day also marked 30 years of making history through the Polio Plus program!

HISTORIC MOMENTS: POLIOPLUS TURNS 30This year marks 30 years since Rotary launched PolioPlus, its campaign to rid the world of polio. Beginning on Rotary's anniversary, 23 February, Rotary members worldwide will be holding events to celebrate three decades of polio eradication progress.

Since 1985 Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 400 in 2014, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children worldwide. In addition, Rotary's advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $10 billion to the effort.

Before the global scope of PolioPlus, individual clubs with Rotary funding were attacking the disease closer to home.

In 1979 Rotary members and delegates of the Philippine Ministry of Health looked on as volunteers administered drops of the oral polio vaccine to children in the Manila barrio of Guadalupe Viejo.

When James L. Bomar Jr., then Rotary president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child's mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Bomar joined Enrique M. Garcia, the country's minister of health, in signing the contract committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint five-year effort to immunize around 6 million children against polio at a cost of about $760,000.

In a 1993 interview, Bomar recalled how the brother of one of the children he'd immunized tugged on his pant leg to get his attention and said, "Thank you, thank you, Rotary."

The success of this project set the stage for Rotary's top priority to rid the world of polio. Since Rotary introduced its PolioPlus campaign, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped 99 percent, and the virus remains endemic in just three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Polio Team Attacked in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen attacked a vehicle carrying a poliovaccination team in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing the driver and wounding a health care worker, according to police officials.

The attack took place in the restive Khyber tribal region, which straddles the border with Afghanistan and has been the site of a recent offensive by the Pakistani military. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but polio vaccination workers are frequently singled out acrossPakistan by Taliban militants, who view the campaign as un-Islamic and the health workers as Western spies.

Separately on Saturday, two polio workers and two security guards were reported to have gone missing in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, officials said. It was not immediately clear whether they had come under attack or had merely fallen out of contact in the remote area where they were working.

“There is no proper communication system, which is why we are facing difficulty in tracing them,” a news report quoted a provincial official, Nazir Ahmed Khetran, as saying.

Hard-line clerics in Pakistan’s most conservative regions have long opposed polio vaccination campaigns, arguing that they are a conspiracy to leave Muslims infertile.

Resistance to such campaigns increased significantly after the 2011 raid by American forces that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, amid revelations that a polio campaign had been used by the C.I.A. as a cover for an espionage operation.The continuing attacks pose a serious challenge for polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan, one of just three countries where the disease is still endemic.

INTERNATIONAL » SOUTH ASIA ISLAMABAD, February 18, 2015

Abducted polio workers killed in PakistanTwo polio workers and two security guards, who went missing a week ago, have been found shot dead in Pakistan, media reported on Wednesday. “The bodies of two polio workers and two Levies personnel were found in the mountainous area of Killi Murgha Kibzai, in Bolachistan province,” Dawnreported. The four had gone to a village close to Afghan border for administrating anti-polio drops to children, but did not return to their homes. “They could not be traced till Monday night,” security officials said. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari   Health activist for Pakistan and Global Citizen

Abolishing Polio's Hold on Pakistan2015, the year Pakistan aspired to eradicate polio in, has seen six new cases emerge in just the first month. For those who see Pakistan through "Homeland"-style stereotypes, the march of a polio epidemic simply adds to the layers of crises that we get branded with. But even for Pakistan-watchers who privilige nuance over sensation, the question of why our country continues to grapple with a disease that has been preventable for over half a century, certainly begs an answer.

With cases continuing to rise and violence against health workers becoming increasingly common, the threat posed by polio to our children is both great and unprecedented. There can be no argument on the level and urgency of focus needed on its eradication.

So what contributes to our country's ineffectiveness in eradicating this disease?

When talking about polio in Pakistan the first point of discussion is almost invariably the security threat that now just goes with the territory, as it were. Vaccinators today face serious security risks. However, while this is a key factor in why this disease continues to plague our nation, it is not the only one. Along with security concerns, there is also significant religious stigma, inconsistent government commitment to eradication efforts and, after years of targeted efforts, an element of campaign fatigue.

Perhaps the most important element in ensuring that the polio eradication campaigns have the best chance of success is unequivocal support from the government. Health care has consistently been an area of focus for PPP governments, illustrated by efforts like the Benazir

Income Support Programme which has continued on under the current government and regardless of whether they change the name it was, is and always will be the Benazir Income Support Programme. Specifically for polio, PM Yusuf Raza Gilani and former President Asif Ali Zardari both endorsed the National Emergency Action Plan, launched in 2012. Polio cases dropped precipitously: according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Pakistan in 2014 had a total of 306 cases compared to 93 in 2013 and 58 in 2012. There was a clear and dedicated commitment to removing polio as a threat to our children.

With the transitionary impact of an interim caretaker government and suspension of the PM polio cell, an invaluable part of the momentum driving efforts to combat polio was lost. Surveillance, communication efforts and vaccination programmes faltered in all provinces. While some developments have been made under the current government, including the creation of a mandatory polio certification programme, lack of government oversight and checks on the system have led to abuses. Reports of families being charged for polio drops that are, and always will be, free are unacceptable and must be addressed.

Understandably, campaign fatigue has also become an issue. When meeting polio workers one of the complaints that arose during a campaign was, "why are you just giving polio drops? My children are at risk of other diseases and you came here last month". Both health workers and the people can see we have far more to deal with than one disease. If we can tackle the mind-set leading to refusals of polio drops, we can remove an entire disease and redeploy the resources to other areas within our health system that are desperately in need of them. Education is one aspect: everyone leader from across the religious and political spectrums claims to support the polio campaigns, however, it is still common to have drops rejected on religious grounds. We need these leaders to come out and join our country's health programmes and help secure our children's future.

And finally, security. The overwhelming threat faced daily by our health workers is a harsh burden that they deal with continuously. Since the first attack on polio workers there have been repeated attacks on polio workers across the country. Even without the security threat, we are a country that is struggling with human resources in health care as we face shortages in almost all fields. And yet, during my four and a half years as Polio Ambassador for Pakistan by the United Nations, I have witnessed the unwavering commitment of these polio workers in the face

of such adversity and open hostility. One cannot help but be touched by their stories: one health worker I met had refused polio drops to her child who later contracted polio. Since that time she has gone door to door during every campaign in her province to try and spare other mothers from suffering the hardship she had to endure. Another worker takes her child with her during campaigns and proves to mothers in front of them that her child has taken it therefore they should. This was based on the example my mother Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto set when she gave me the first oral polio vaccination (OPV). Their stories and actions leave no doubt in my mind that we as a nation are capable of eradicating polio but we must focus our efforts on ensuring that the infrastructure of the health system will allow for the safe access of polio teams to every child, regardless of their location.

In order to achieve a polio free Pakistan we must have the will from the people, government and religious scholars. We need support from the government that they will keep our health workers safe and will fully commit to eradication efforts. We need to assure the people through our strong and targeted efforts that the campaign will be successful and we will have a healthier Pakistan because of it. And finally, we need to continue to speak out and denounce those endangering our children by claiming a threat exists in the drops. This will all manifest itself in different ways, from educational mass media campaigns run by the government to the resolution of a single health worker to carry on despite the daily threat, but each element contributes to ridding our country of polio. As a people, we have the ability to defeat this disease, but only if we work in unison.

Follow Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AseefaBZMORE:

Inspiring Women who Support the Fight to End PolioInspiring Women who Support the Fight to End Polio - From Australia to India and back, Monica Saville embarks on a polio journey.

For Monica Saville, Rotary’s polio eradication campaign is personal. Saville, who survived the disease as a child in Australia, has helped raise money to fight polio and vaccinated children in India. A member of the Rotary Club of Epping, she is a regional Rotary Foundation coordinator and a past governor of District 9680.

THE ROTARIAN: What was your own experience with polio like?

SAVILLE: I was raised about 300 miles from Sydney in Junee, a small rural community that had a lot of sheep and wheat. In 1951, when I was 11, a farmer died of polio. The whole town was reeling. We were a fairly isolated place. Just after that, I was at school one day feeling very sick. Flu-like symptoms, aching back – I will never forget the pain. I went home, and my mother called the doctor. He checked my arms and legs, and then he said, “Put your chin on your chest,” and I couldn’t do that, because my neck was paralyzed. I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t eat very well and couldn’t talk properly. He told my mother, “You need to take her to the nearest large hospital,” which was 25 miles away in a city called Wagga Wagga. There was no treatment, but I was able to go home after three weeks, and I went back to school after another three weeks.

Mine is a good-news story in that I’m now 74, and I’m fit and well. But for millions of other children, it’s been either death or lifelong disability.

TR: How did you become involved with Rotary’s fight against polio?

SAVILLE: I had put the whole childhood episode behind me until I became a Rotarian in 1993 and learned that the eradication of polio was Rotary’s most ambitious project. You know how you feel compelled to do something? I felt a huge need to vaccinate children against polio.

I was in Andhra Pradesh, a very poor part of India, in 2010. We started off early in the morning in a bus; then we transferred into jeeps. Along the way, we were vaccinating children. The Indian parents ran out to meet us, and the children were terrific. It must have seemed strange to them – these were isolated communities – but they knew their parents wanted them to have these two vital drops.

Then we transferred into an old boat and went out on a lake with rocky shores. It was night, we’d been vaccinating all day, and we had only the light of flashlights and phones. I remember thinking, “If we start to sink, I should keep my shoes on,” because the shores were so rocky. We’d pull ashore, scramble over the rocks, and vaccinate children. One family jumped in a coracle and frantically paddled out to us so their children could be vaccinated before we went away.

TR: What are Australian Rotarians doing these days to help end polio?

SAVILLE: We have a project for World Polio Day on 24 October, the Ribbon of Gold. The idea is that clubs can put a yellow strip of tape on the ground at their local shopping centers and people can line up coins on it – Australian one- and two-dollar coins are gold-colored. And at the international convention in Sydney, our prime minister announced that the Australian government would give $100 million to help eradicate polio. For a small country, that’s a large amount.

– Anne Ford

June 10, 2014

A PAKISTANI MOTHER: UNSTOPPABLE, EVEN BY POLIOStory originally published on Polio Info

This is not the first time Saima Liaqat has shown her courage.

Stricken by polio at age two, Saima was partially paralyzed. Yet, even as a young girl, she refused to let the disease get the best of her. She limped down the long dusty road to school so often, and studied so hard, that she became the first woman in her family to go to college.

Saima’s native Pakistan is one of only three countries on earth where polio is still endemic; Afghanistan and Nigeria are the others. Polio, as Saima knows all too well, attacks children with devastating, paralyzing results. The disease can be prevented by swallowing two drops of polio vaccine. Yet in small pockets of Pakistan, some parents have refused to allow their children to take the vaccine. The recent polio outbreak in Syria is a reminder that, whenever children anywhere go unvaccinated, every child is at risk. It will take courage – and the efforts of unstoppable women like Saima – to rid Pakistan, and the world, of polio once and for all.

In this TV spot, which has reached nearly 70 million viewers across Pakistan, Saima stands up, once again, to the disease that left her partially paralyzed. Now a wife and mother of three, she shares her story

as a polio survivor and urges parents to accept the vaccine.  “I think parents become their child’s worst enemy when they don’t vaccinate them. You will regret it, if something happens to your child,” says Saima. 

As a mother, Saima has always refused to let polio hold her back.  “When my children were young, we would go to the park. I would play all sorts of games with them… badminton, cricket. I would take care of them all by myself,” says Saima. “I wanted to prove to people that I was still my own person.” Her courageous example has not been lost on Saima’s own children.

"I wanted to become a doctor so I could treat my mother,” says her daughter, Hamna. “Now I know this disease has no cure.”

Saima has taught her daughter to focus on what can be changed, rather than on regrets from the past. Still, even as Hamna speaks of the polio vaccine that can free children all over the world from this tragic disease, her voice is wistful. It’s hard not to wonder how different her mother’s life might have been – if only she had swallowed those two tiny drops of vaccine.

“I wish my grandparents had given my mother polio drops, so she would not be in so much pain today,” says Hamna.

March 2, 2015

SPREADING THE WORD IN ANGOLA TO END POLIOCamila Sá Freire, journalist and health communications specialist for the STOP (Stop Transmission of Polio) program, led by CDC and sponsored by Rotary International, WHO and UNICEF

Camila Sá Freire holds a child whom she vaccinated during the immunization campaign.

When I was 8 years old, my mother started taking me to polio immunization campaigns. Although the disease had recently been eradicated in my country, she thought we should participate in the process to understand the reality of the situation. I remember carrying a small Styrofoam box full of vaccines and watching the health workers in action.  

When I finished college I wanted to be a health volunteer in Africa, but lacked the professional experience. I dedicated myself to communications in the health field. I developed informational materials geared to the public and health workers. After I gained invaluable experience from my work in the health communications, I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer in Africa. I worked on communications about malaria control in São Tomé and Príncipe, and then went on to Angola, where I worked with polio eradication efforts. During my last volunteer opportunity, in 2013, I was responsible for developing communications plans for polio mobilization in Luanda.

The biggest challenge in mobilization efforts is trying to navigate the culture within each town and region as well as understand the reasons a family would choose to not vaccinate their children. Based on the information we learn, we develop plans that help us relate to a wider

audience. Another great challenge we face is communicating information to remote communities that do not have access to television or radio.

When we talk about working with such a diverse audience, the most important thing to do is to ensure that our message is received and understood. To do this, we work with local organizations, health workers, volunteers, and community leaders. Together, we are able to reach children and families in distant areas. 

Angola is polio free, but the work does not stop there; campaigns and surveillance must continue. There is a great deal of work to be done, and we need to join forces to protect the children of the world. Knowing that there are countries that have not yet been able to win the fight against polio motivates me to continue my work. Volunteering for this cause is more than a pleasure – I believe it is a moral and professional obligation.

March 7, 2015

THE HEART OF INDIA’S POLIO PROGRAMAnn Lee Hussey, Rotary member and polio survivor

Left: Hussey joins Indian health workers as they immunize children in a Muslim slum in India. Right: Hussey administers the polio vaccine to a child in an Indian village.

With a fist pump, the health worker emphasizes her pride in participating in the polio campaign for many years.  She taps herself over her shoulder and explains she is like a warrior carrying a gun on her back, doing her duty, but quickly points out the weapon she carries is love.  This love is the secret behind India’s success in polio eradication, with an army of women spreading love as they teach the need for continuing polio

immunizations. The women remind me of the song that goes, “Yes, love, love changes everything. Nothing in the world will ever be the same.”

India will certainly never be the same.  As recently as 2009, India reported the highest number of polio cases in the world and was predicted to be the last country to stop the poliovirus.  India has proven the naysayers wrong.  Follow a team of health workers during National Immunization Days (NIDs) and you will quickly realize the strength of India’s program.  Of the 2.3 million vaccinators involved in each round of polio immunization campaigns in India, approximately 80 to 85 percent are women who have worked in India’s polio program since it began in 1995. 

The Aanganwadi* women workers, with children of their own, have built trusted relationships in the neighborhoods they traverse, even in the most conservative of Muslim villages.  It is these women who have access to homes where men may not enter; it is these women who address mothers’ concerns and allay their fears; it is these women who share personal stories and educate with love and compassion. 

The vaccinators and social mobilizers wear a badge that reads, “Work for the welfare of all children and society.” This slogan is one that I think they have selflessly earned.   Traveling miles by foot, they work eight-hour days, during each eight-day campaign. Money is not their motivation, as they earn very little in the polio program; the health of children and their communities has been and remains their driving force. 

One only needs to walk the paths of these health workers, streets flooded with sewage where barefoot children wander, to understand how quickly polio could return to India were it not for the dedication of these workers and the commitment of the Indian government. 

On this International Women’s Day, we should give thanks to these exceptional women health workers of India’s polio campaign.  We have much to learn from them.  They have fought a long, hard battle against the poliovirus, yet they are not ready to rest, realizing the ever-present risk of the return of polio. 

Once the risk of polio is gone forever, these same women are eager to work on other health issues facing their communities. They will fight it with the same weapon that defeated polio – love.

Love will turn your world around; and that world will last forever; Yes love, love changes everything. 

*The Government of India in 1975 initiated the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme that operates at the state level to address the health issues of small children.  They trained women, known as the Anganwadi workers.

Ann Lee Hussey has participated in over 25 volunteer NIDs and has received Rotary’s International Service Award for a Polio-Free World. 

Wild poliovirus type 1 and Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases

Total casesYear-to-date 2015 Year-to-date 2014 Total in 2014 

WPV  cVDPV  WPV  cVDPV  WPV  cVDPV

Globally 14 0           28 4 359 54 

- in endemic countries 14  0 28 4 340  51

- in non-endemic countries 0  0 0  0 19  3

Case breakdown by country

CountriesYear-to-date 2015 Year-to-date

2014Total in 2014

Onset of paralysis of most  

 recent caseWPV cVDPV  WPV  cVDPV  WPV cVDPV   WPV  cVDPV

Pakistan 13 0 24 4 306 21  03-Feb-15 13-Dec-14

Afghanistan 1 0  3 0  28 0  21-Jan-15 N/A

Nigeria 0 0 0 0  6 30  24-Jul-14 16-Nov-14

Somalia 0 0  0  0 5 0  11-Aug-14 N/A

Equatorial Guinea 0  0 0  0 5 0 03-May-14 N/A

Iraq 0 0  0  0 2 0 07-Apr-14 N/A

Cameroon 0 0  0  0 5 0  09-Jul-14 N/ASyrian Arab Republic 0 0  0 0  1 0 21-Jan-14 N/A

Ethiopia 0 0  0 0  1 0 05-Jan-14 N/A

 South Sudan 0   0  0  0  0 2  N/A  12-Sep-14

 Madagascar 0   0 0  0   0 1  N/A  29-Sep-14

    cVDPV: Madagascar is cVDPV1, all others cVDPV2. NA: onset of paralysis in most recent case is prior to 2014.Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) type 2 cases with greater than or equal to 6nt (10nt for type 1) difference from sabin in VP1 and other evidence for established circulation. Figures exclude VDPV from non-AFP source.

Status of AFP Cases as on March 2, 2015

Year AFPVDP

VConfirmed

PolioCompatibl

e Discarded Pending

2013 54632 5 0 33 54594 0

2014 54806 3 0 6 52092 2705

2015 5568 0 0 0 3764 1804

 

  

  

COMPILED BYDr.P.NarayanaVice-Chairman,Rotary’s India National Polio plus Committee