The Rotary Club of Topsham Expresso is battling Polio around the world to help eradicate the wild polio virus from the earth. Rotary International’s pledge to eradicate polio has a long history, going back to 1979. All Rotary clubs around the world participate in the challenge through the fundraising efforts of Rotary’s PolioPlus. At every Rotary meeting members are given the opportunity to contribute loose change or a few dollars to the PolioPlus campaign.

A Long History

Rotary is a worldwide organization that is drawn to issues of basic human needs and how to better the lives of people in need. In 1979 Rotary International launched a 5-year program to immunize children in the Philippines against this crippling virus. Rotary’s interest in relieving the suffering caused by polio was given a boost in 1980 when Dr. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the oral polio vaccine, spoke at Rotary’s 75th Anniversary convention in Chicago. In his keynote address, Dr. Salk spoke with confidence about his belief that polio could be conquered worldwide. He stressed that this dreadful disease could be eliminated by an organization such as Rotary with it’s international presence and cadre of volunteers looking for opportunities to do good.

In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus program, the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children. Together, in global partnership, Rotary began working with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) and others, to create a polio free world.

The fight gained momentum in 1988 with the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). This is a public-private partnership led by national governments with five partners, the four mentioned above and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which joined in as a major supporter of GPEI in 2007. To date the foundation has contributed nearly $3 billion in the push to end polio. Rotary International has spent nearly $2 billion on the effort. Ironically, the cost to vaccinate one child is modest. For as little as $0.60, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. Reaching children in remote regions of the world and the challenge of navigating cultural barriers has prolonged the effort. There is optimism however that the wild polio virus will be contained by 2020.

In 1988 polio paralyzed more than 1000 children worldwide every day. Since then, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized against polio thanks to the cooperation of more than 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, backed by an international investment of more than $11 billion.

Polio may be long forgotten in the United States, which has been polio free since 1979. Today, however, polio remains endemic in three countries – Afghanistan,

Nigeria and Pakistan. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries.

A Terrible Disease

A large portion of those affected by the polio virus may never experience symptoms, but the symptoms are severe enough to cause concern when they do manifest as the following information from the World Health Organization indicates. “A smaller proportion of people with poliovirus infection will develop other more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord:

• Paresthesia (feeling of pins and needles in the legs)

• Meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain) occurs in about 1 out of 25 people with poliovirus infection

• Paralysis (can’t move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both, occurs in about 1 out of 200 people with poliovirus infection

Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with polio because it can lead to permanent disability and death. Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.”

There were only 22 new cases of polio caused by the wild polio virus in 2017, with Nigeria reporting zero.

While the battle to eradicate polio takes place on foreign soil it is near and dear to the heart of every Rotarian, including the Rotary Club of Topsham Expresso.

The Rotary Club of Topsham Expresso meets at 7:15am on Mondays at the Priority

Business Center, Topsham. If you want to get involved, you are welcomed to join.