India
celebrates the country’s achievement of polio eradication
Schoolchildren participate in a rally
organized by Rotary members in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India,
celebrating the country’s achievement of polio eradication.
The World Health Organization certified on 27 March its 11-country
Southeast Asia region has eradicated polio, a long-awaited declaration
given that five years ago India represented nearly half of all polio
cases worldwide. The region’s last wild polio case was reported
in West Bengal, India, on 13 January 2011.
“This achievement is an important milestone
for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative [GPEI],” said
Rotary Foundation Trustee chair Dong Kurn Lee at the WHO’s
South-East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication
meeting in New Delhi, India, on 27 March. “We have beaten
polio in Southeast Asia, and now we must do the same in the rest
of Asia and Africa.”
The region includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. Its more than 1.8 billion
people represent over 25 percent of the world’s population.
Southeast Asia joins WHO’s Region of
the Americas (1994), Western Pacific Region (2000), and European
Region (2002) in eradicating polio, marking another vital step toward
a polio-free world by 2018.
Densely crowded cities, migrant populations, and poor sanitation
posed daunting challenges to eliminating the disease from Southeast
Asia.
India PolioPlus Committee Chair Deepak Kapur
called eradicating polio in his country “a monumental task,
demanding an extraordinary effort by all levels of government and
partners involved. Backed by more than 100,000 Rotarians across
the country, we helped to ensure maximum support for everything
from National Immunization Days (NIDs) to mop-up immunization rounds.”
Also crucial were “the extensive efforts
we made to build goodwill and acceptance of polio immunization in
the Muslim community and among religious leaders,” said former
Rotary Foundation Trustee Ashok Mahajan. Rotary clubs created additional
support by conducting free health camps to meet basic needs such
as measles immunization, free checkups, medicines, vitamin A supplements,
and eyeglasses.
In Sri Lanka, ceasefires during the country’s
civil war were pivotal to carrying out NIDs in the 1990s. As a first
step, Rotary leaders and UNICEF established contact with the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
“Our war is not with the children,” replied the group’s
leader, stating that if Rotary and UNICEF could persuade the government
to stop the war for two days, they would be willing to lay down
their arms too. Subsequent NIDs became known as Days of Tranquility.
In Bangladesh, Rotary, WHO, and UNICEF boosted
public awareness of the need to eradicate polio, motivating parents
to have their children vaccinated during NIDs. In Nepal, Rotary,
the national government, WHO, and UNICEF worked hand in hand to
make the country polio free. Nepal held its first NIDs in 1996 and
recorded its last indigenous wild polio case just four years later.
More than 1,500 Rotary members will be celebrating
India’s and the region’s achievement at the Polio Free
Conclave in New Delhi 29-30 March. The event also focused on strengthening
the commitment of the GPEI partners to ending polio globally, including
sharing lessons learned in India with other polio-infected countries.
The GPEI’s challenge now is to eradicate polio in the three
countries where the disease has never been stopped: Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Nigeria. And recent outbreaks in the Middle East and
Horn of Africa are stark reminders that polio anywhere is a threat
everywhere.
“It is India’s responsibility
now to share our lessons and best practices with our colleagues
in the countries still fighting polio in order to protect their
children, and ours as well,” said former Rotary International
President Rajendra Saboo. “We already are doing this, assisting
in any way we can… India’s victory over polio and the
certification of Southeast Asia occur at just the right moment to
provide a resounding rallying cry for the final push needed to wipe
polio from the face of the earth.”
Find more at endpolio.org
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