[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 868

[Garry Krischock]

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Messages In This Digest (3 Messages) 

 

1. 1639: Bill Gates meets <>  with district governors from endemic countrie
From: Sunil K Zachariah 

2. 1640: WSJ on Bill Gates @ International Assembly <>  From: Sunil K
Zachariah 

3. 1641: Bill Gates announces new US$255 million grant for <>  ending polio
From: Sunil K Zachariah 

 

  

Messages 

1.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eFlash_Rotary/message/1559;_ylc=X3oDMTJxaDF1O
GM3BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzI3ODYwNzYEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MDg2BG1zZ0lkAzE1N
TkEc2VjA2Rtc2cEc2xrA3Ztc2cEc3RpbWUDMTIzMjY2NDIwMw--> 1639: Bill Gates meets
with district governors from endemic countrie 

 

Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:30 am (PST) 

Gates meets with district governors from endemic countries By Arnold R.
Grahl

[http://www.rotary.org/SiteCollectionImages/News/ia09_gates_podium2.jpg]
Bill Gates met privately with incoming district governors from the four
polio-endemic countries on 21 January at the 2009 International
Assembly. Rotary Images/Monika Lozinska-Lee
Bill Gates met Wednesday morning with incoming district governors from
the four countries where the wild poliovirus still exists --
Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- to encourage them to
continue in their efforts to end polio.

The meeting, which was unexpected for the district governors-elect,
occurred a short time before Gates took the stage during the fifth
plenary session of the International Assembly to announce a new award of
US$255 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Rotary
International for polio eradication. Rotary will raise $100 million in
matching funds over the next three years.

"[Gates] talked about how he had just been to India in November and
how impressed he was with all that Rotarians in India and the government
were doing in the effort to eradicate polio," said Deepak Purohit of
District 3131 (part of Maharashtra, India). "He said our really hard
work will be instrumental in approaching the remaining stumbling blocks,
and that he is sure we will end polio."

Robert S. Scott, chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee,
updated the district governors-elect on the status of polio in the
world, noting that while there is good news, there are also tough
challenges ahead. He noted that through the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative, type 2 polio was eradicated in 1999. But an epidemic of type
1 polio in northern Nigeria has been among some of the year's bad
news.

Purohit, an orthopedic surgeon, said his clinic performs corrective
surgery for polio victims in six countries. He said meeting Gates has
recharged his personal drive to promote Rotary's End Polio Now
campaign in his year as district governor.

"This is fantastic. It is the best kept secret of this
assembly," he said.

Atmaram Gawande, governor-elect from District 6690 (Ohio, USA), said
such a personal commitment by Gates, including his trip to India and his
appearance at the assembly, increases Rotary's credibility in the
eyes of the world.

In his opinion, said Gawande, "This is the first time that such a
major announcement has been made at an assembly."

Source: Rotary International News / Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary

 

2.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eFlash_Rotary/message/1560;_ylc=X3oDMTJxNnIyZ
DYxBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzI3ODYwNzYEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MDg2BG1zZ0lkAzE1N
jAEc2VjA2Rtc2cEc2xrA3Ztc2cEc3RpbWUDMTIzMjY2NDIwMw--> 1640: WSJ on Bill Gates
@ International Assembly 

 

Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:49 am (PST) 

Here is an eFlash_Rotary:

Yesterday Bill Gates made a personal appearance at the International 
Assembly and made a rousing speech with the world press in 
attendance. The prestigious Wall Street Journal reported it today and 
many of the top TV channels carried it.

Here is the report that appeared in the Wall Street Journal:

By ROBERT A. GUTH and JACOB GOLDSTEIN
SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- JANUARY 22, 2009

$635 Million Pledged in Effort to Wipe Out Polio

22-01-2009 $635 Million Pledged in Effort to Wipe .
.wsj.com/./SB123255878013402937.. 1/2
Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The governments of Germany and the United Kingdom
and charities including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged 
$635 million toward eradicating polio, in a major boost of funding that 
shows how tricky and expensive it can be to wipe out a disease.
The Gates Foundation pledged $255 million, while the governments of 
Germany and the U.K. will together donate a total of $280 million. Rotary 
International said its members will raise $100 million over the next three
years 
toward the effort. Rotary has been a longtime advocate for eradicating
polio, 
raising funds and deploying volunteers to help with inoculation efforts.
The money will ultimately be used by the World Health Organization and
Unicef, adding to funds from other countries and philanthropies. The 
money will be focused on the four countries where polio remains endemic: 
Nigeria, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
The grants add to the roughly $6 billion spent on polio eradication 
since 1988, when the WHO and partners launched an effort to wipe out the 
crippling disease.
The polio vaccine was first created in the 1950s, and the disease was 
quickly  killed off in the U.S. and many parts of the world. Strong gains 
against polio continued through the 1990s, but an uptick last year in the
number of 
reported cases has health officials and donors concerned that it could re-
infect parts of the world.
That has sparked a fresh round of donations and an effort to work 
more closely with countries that still have polio. "The idea that this can
be 
easily controlled now is a false premise," said Bruce Aylward, director of
the WHO's 
polio eradication program.
The eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s was one of the great 
achievements in global public health. In 1988, the WHO and partners launched
an 
effort to kill off polio, setting the year 2000 as a goal.
The goal was nearly achieved, with the number of reported cases in 
recent years reduced to hundreds from 350,000 cases in 1988. But in 2003,
leaders 
in Nigeria called for a stop to vaccination efforts and some residents 
grew sceptical of health workers and refused to have their children
vaccinated. 
Vaccination efforts in the African country have since been restarted.
Meanwhile, in parts of northern India typical vaccine regimens weren't
sufficient to confer immunity. And in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 
inoculation efforts were hampered by terrain and conflict.
The upshot was that in 2008 the numbers of reported cases started to 
climb back up, driven by epidemics in parts of Africa and Asia. At the end 
of 2008 there were about 1,600 reported cases. "You have to get rid of this 
every single place on earth, all at the same time," said Scott Barrett of
the 
Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "The probability of
success 
is never going to be 100%."
Money remains a factor: Health officials said an additional $350 million is
still
needed in 2009 and 2010 to support the eradication efforts.

 

3.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eFlash_Rotary/message/1561;_ylc=X3oDMTJxaGM3M
mVoBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzI3ODYwNzYEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MDg2BG1zZ0lkAzE1N
jEEc2VjA2Rtc2cEc2xrA3Ztc2cEc3RpbWUDMTIzMjY2NDIwMw--> 1641: Bill Gates
announces new US$255 million grant for ending polio 

 

Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:52 am (PST) 

Bill Gates announces new US$255 million grant for ending polio By Arnold
R. Grahl and Dan Nixon 
[http://www.rotary.org/SiteCollectionImages/News/ia09_gates_podium.jpg]
Bill Gates announces a new US$255 million grant for ending polio at the
2009 International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA. Photo by
Rotary Images/Monika Lozinska-Lee
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded US$255 million to Rotary
International in the global effort to eradicate polio, bringing the
total committed by Rotary and the Gates Foundation to $555 million.

Shortly after meeting with incoming district governors from the four
countries where the wild poliovirus is endemic -- Afghanistan, India,
Nigeria, and Pakistan -- Bill Gates announced the new grant on Wednesday
morning at the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA.

"Rotarians, government leaders, and health professionals have made a
phenomenal commitment to get us to a point at which polio afflicts only
a small number of the world's children," Gates said.
"However, complete elimination of the poliovirus is difficult and
will continue to be difficult for a number of years. Rotary in
particular has inspired my own personal commitment to get deeply
involved in achieving eradication."

"We are going to end polio now," affirmed Robert S. Scott, chair of RI's
International PolioPlus Committee.

In response to the new $255 million Gates Foundation grant, Rotary will
raise $100 million in matching funds. In November 2007, RI received a
$100 million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary committed to match by
raising $100 million.

The two Gates Foundation challenge grants now total $355 million. Rotary
International's matching effort in response is called Rotary's
US$200 Million Challenge, which must be completed by 30 June 2012.

The $255 million grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given
by the Gates Foundation and the largest received by Rotary in its
104-year history. Rotary will spend the grant in direct support of
immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative, which is spearheaded by RI and its partners 
<http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/RotarysWork/Pages/p\
<http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/RotarysWork/Pages/polio
_partners.aspx> 
olio_partners.aspx> , the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF. Rotary will distribute
the funds through grants to WHO and UNICEF.

The participation of Rotary clubs and individual Rotarians in
Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge remains crucial to its success.
Rotary has raised nearly $73 million toward this amount: $62 million in
contributions and $11 million in commitments. Each club is being
challenged to organize a public fundraiser 
<http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/HelpEradicatePolio/\
<http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/HelpEradicatePolio/Page
s/fundraisingideas.aspx> 
Pages/fundraisingideas.aspx> annually for the next three years. In
October, The Rotary Foundation Trustees approved special Paul Harris
Fellow Recognition, which begins 1 July, featuring a certificate with
the End Polio Now logo.

Polio eradication has been Rotary's top priority since 1985, with
more than $1.2 billion contributed to the effort. Gates praised Rotary
for providing the volunteers, advocates, and donors who have helped
bring about a 99 percent decline in the number of polio cases. "The
world would not be where it is without Rotary, and it won't get
where it needs to go without Rotary," he said.

The final hurdle still is ahead, said RI President-elect John Kenny.
This grant shows that the Gates Foundation is just as committed as
Rotary to ridding the world of this disease, he said.

Gates also shared with the incoming district governors and Rotary
leaders a story from his trip to India in November, when he held a
nine-month-old girl afflicted with polio in his arms in a slum in East
Delhi.

"She obviously didn't understand why people were poking her legs
and looking so serious. But she'll never be able to kick a ball
around, never be able to play hide-and-seek with her friends, because
she has polio," Gates said. "As I held Hashmin, I thought, We
can end this."

"We don't know exactly when the last child will be affected. But
we do have the vaccines to wipe it out," he said. "Countries do
have the will to deploy all the tools at their disposal. If we all have
the fortitude to see this effort through to the end, then we will
eradicate polio."

In addition, the governments of the United Kingdom and Germany announced
they have respectively committed $150 million and $130 million to
eradicate polio, which will not count toward Rotary's challenge.

Government support is key to polio eradication efforts, said Scott.

Source: Rotary International News / Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary

 

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