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Rotary continues eradication fight as World Polio Day is observed
Kaieteur News – Today, the Rotary Club of Georgetown Central (RCGC) joins other Rotary Clubs, locally and across the globe, to commemorate World Polio Day under the theme: ‘Rotary and its Partners in the fight to eradicate the disease’.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), polio is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under five years of age. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread, mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food), and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
The RCGC, in a release, stated that rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years and its goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever. Rotary highlighted that to continually fight the disease, it has relied on donations and on the support of key partners worldwide.
World Polio Day is commemorated annually on October 24. The day was established by Rotary International to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis (polio).
Decades ago, the use of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus vaccine, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted the resolution for the worldwide eradication of polio marking the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
RCGC added that the initiative was a public-private partnership spearheaded by national governments, WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, later joined.
This Global Polio Eradication initiative spread across 200 countries with a pool of 200 million volunteers. The initiative has so far utilized over US$14 Billion and has managed to vaccinate over 2.5 billion children; with an overall goal of making the world polio free.
WHO, estimates that wild poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries, then to 175 reported cases last year. As of 2020, wild poliovirus type one continues to affect only two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to the Rotary Club the most effective way to prevent the disease is to get vaccinated. Immunization against polio is recommended for all the children from three to 18 months of age. Three booster doses should be given to all children up to 12 years.
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