[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 1038

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

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1. 1905 : Eradicating polio is the world's obligation From: Sunil 


Posted by: "Sunil"
<mailto:sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk?Subject=%20Re%3A1905%20%3A%20Eradicating%20po
lio%20is%20the%20world%27s%20obligation> sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk
<http://profiles.yahoo.com/sunilkzach> sunilkzach 


Tue Jun 22, 2010 6:35 pm (PDT) 


Rotary's promise to eradicate polio worldwide took center stage
during the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada, as
Rotarians were urged to finish the task the organization began 25 years
ago.

At the third plenary session on 22 June, Bruce Aylward, director of the
Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the World Health Organization,
encouraged attendees to share the "terrific news" that polio is on the
run, and that Rotary's vision of a polio-free world is within sight.

The night before, on 21 June, polio survivor Ramesh Ferris hand-cycled
from the Palais des congrès to Bonsecours Market in Old Montréal
for a ceremony that included the landmark's illumination with En
finir avec la polio (End Polio Now). During the second plenary session
earlier that day, a soccer ball signed by dignitaries in more than 20
countries as part of the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign arrived on stage
to thunderous applause.
<
<http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/100421_news_kpoa_lan.aspx>
http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/100421_news_kpoa_lan.a\
spx> 

Aylward praised Rotarians for all they have accomplished in fighting
polio. "You have fundamentally changed the polio eradication game, and
you have changed it in your favor," he said.

But it is critical to finish the job, something made clear by the recent
outbreak in Tajikistan, Aylward said, noting that 300 children in the
country have been paralyzed by the virus, adults have died, borders have
been closed, and travel banned. He said the outbreak is a stark reminder
of the consequences of global fatigue in this battle.

"The stakes are now much higher, because in the past 12 months you have
proved, without a doubt, that polio can be eradicated," Aylward said.
"The world has also learned the full consequences of failure."

Emergency funds from PolioPlus -- a total of US$500,000 -- were released
within 48 hours of the Tajikistan outbreak, which is now showing signs
of stopping, Aylward said. He also shared the encouraging news of the
new bivalent vaccine, effective against both remaining types of the
poliovirus, and noted the absence of new cases in Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh, India, in the past six months.

"Rotarians have done the extraordinary in the pursuit of polio
eradication," Aylward said. "You have truly put Service Above Self. And
you have truly put Rotary on the world's stage."

At the second plenary session, Marie-Iréne Richmond-Ahoua, chair of
the Côte d'Ivoire PolioPlus Committee and a member of the Rotary
Club of Abidjan-Bietry, presented RI President John Kenny with the Kick
Polio Out of Africa soccer ball to sign.

"Polio eradication is not optional -- it is an obligation,"
Richmond-Ahoua said. "We must commit to overcoming the remaining
obstacles and free Africa, Southeast Asia, and the world from this
crippling disease, which ruins the lives of children. As an African
woman and mother, I will not tolerate it."

Ferris, a member of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse, Yukon, hand-cycled
across Canada in 2008, raising more than C$300,000 (US$294,100) for
polio eradication. He was given a police escort 21 June as he cycled to
Bonsecours Market with Robert S. Scott, chair of the International
PolioPlus Committee, and several young people in the family of Rotary.

Source : Rotary International News / Courtesy : eFlash_Rotary

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