Rotary’s This Close” campaign to eradicate polio has received its support by some of the best athletes participating at the London 2012 Olympics.
Appealing to parents, wrestler Sushil Kumar, said, “In 1988, 500 children were getting affected by polio in India every day. Today, our country is reaching steadily toward eradication of polio. We need your help to win this fight.”
Adding to this, Vijender Singh, a member of the boxing team, said, “Polio vaccine can save a child from polio paralysis. Let us ensure that children are not paralyzed by giving them the vital drops”.
Other Olympic athletes participating in the campaign include Olympic divers Tom Daley and Tonia Couch.
Rotary International said that after 25 years of hard work, a campaign involving themselves and their partners is on the brink of wiping out the crippling disease, but a “strong push” is needed now to root it out once and for all.
Deepak Kapur, Chairman, Rotary International’s India National PolioPlus Committee (INPPC) said, “Global health and the Olympics share a common ethos. With key athletes supporting the cause at the Olympics, the focus of world including the conflict-laden countries, will once again will be on the dreaded disease that is so close to being eradicated from the world.”
With no new polio cases being reported for more than a year, India’s experience of containing the dreaded virus has been hailed as the biggest public health achievement worldwide.
There have been 96 cases of polio reported worldwide this year, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The countries that have never been free of the disease are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
Rotary’s commitment to end polio represented the largest private-sector support of a global health initiative ever undertaken. Rotary International has so far invested $ one billion (Rs 5000 crores) globally of which $159 million (Rs 795 crores) have been spent in India alone. In addition to Rotary’s fund raising efforts, over one lakh Indian Rotary volunteers helped organize national immunisation days, staffed health stations and administered drops to children.
Rotary International is the spearheading partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative comprising of WHO, UNICEF, CDC and Rotary. It consists of 33,976 clubs and 1.2 million members in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.
India was removed from WHO’s polio endemic list on 25 February this year after completing over a year without reporting any case of polio
“Reaching the ultimate goal of a polio-free world presents myriad challenges. As long as there is even a single polio-afflicted child anywhere in the world, children everywhere remain at risk”, added Kapur.
EH News Bureau
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