The Polio Plus Program
contributed by: Club Sec. Alvin Co

In 1985, Rotary International launched PolioPlus — a 20-year commitment to eradicate polio. PolioPlus is one of the most ambitious humanitarian undertakings ever made by a private entity ever. It will serve as a paradigm for private/public collaborations in the fight against disease well into the next century.

As the polio eradication program grew, so did Rotary's commitment and involvement. By 1990, Rotary moved from providing vaccine to children in developing countries against poliomyelitis, to assisting health care workers in the field, providing training for laboratory personnel to track the polio virus and working with governments around the world in supporting the historic health drive. Rotary looks to celebrate the global eradication of polio in the year 2005 — it's centennial.

How is Rotary involved in the global polio eradication effort?

Financially: In 1985, Rotary was recognized by the World Health Organization as a non-governmental organization working in the field of international health. In the same year, Rotary set a goal to raise $120 million to provide oral polio vaccine to newborns in the developing world. When the campaign ended, Rotary had doubled its goal, collecting more than $247 million. To date, the PolioPlus program has contributed $334 million to the protection of more than one billion children. By 2005, Rotary's financial commitment will reach nearly US$500 million.

On the ground assistance: With its community-based network worldwide, Rotary is the volunteer arm of the global partnership dedicated to eradicating polio. Rotary volunteers assist in vaccine delivery, social mobilization and logistical help in co-operation with the national health ministries, WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rotary's volunteer efforts were instrumental in the eradication of polio from the Western Hemisphere, certified polio-free in 1994.

Rotary in action

In 1999, over 100,000 Indian Rotary members and their families joined the Government of India in immunizing over 130 million children on one day signaling
the largest public health event ever in the world.

In 1996 and 1997, Rotarians in Angola led a campaign to solicit corporate jets, helicopters and vehicles to move vaccine through Angola's land mine infested countryside. Additional volunteers mobilized by a single Rotary club helped the government reach 80 percent of its target population of children under five years of age.

During the late 1980s, 11,000 Rotarians in Peru volunteered in a massive drive to eliminate the virus in one of the last South American countries. Rotary volunteers assisted national health care workers in door-to-door immunization drives, transporting health care workers to remote vaccination centers, analyzing data and publicizing the immunization days to raise awareness of the final assault against the crippling disease.

In countries where there are no Rotary clubs like the Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam the PolioPlus program not only funded vaccines and promotional materials for National Immunization Days, but provided on-site volunteer assistance from neighboring countries to assist national authorities in carrying out eradication exercises.

After extensive efforts to eradicate polio in Cambodia, health officials tracked the remaining pockets of polio to children living on the waterways, missed by the previously held National Immunization Days. Rotary volunteers joined health officials in a boat-to-boat follow-up campaign to successfully reach this population and wipe out the virus.

In many developing countries, methods of communication vary from street plays to parades. Rotary members in India and Pakistan performed street dramas and organized rallies to educate parents about the need to immunize their children against polio.