PolioPlus Needs Another $1.5 Billion? Are You Kidding?
I thought polio cases were down 99.9% worldwide!! In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of wild polio virus. So far in 2016, there have been less than 50 cases reported. Why then is there such a need for another $1.5 billion?
This is a question that I know for a fact that many Rotarians are "silently" asking themselves. Hasn’t Rotary already contributed $1.5 billion of the $10 billion spent worldwide to eradicate polio since 1988? Proudly, it has. But another $1.5 billion funded by governments and donors such as Rotary will be needed through at least 2019 to finish the job. One might say, it seems as though polio is basically gone, so can’t we move on to support other initiatives locally and globally? We could, but there is no doubt that if polio rebounds, more than 200,000 children worldwide could be paralyzed every year within the next 10 years. Until polio is eradicated everywhere, no unvaccinated child is safe anywhere.
Did you know that the vaccine itself is not the largest expense in a vaccination campaign? In fact, Rotary rarely funds vaccines. Even though we are "this close", it will be necessary to increase resources in this final phase to more than half of all that has been spent so far! The final phase will be the most difficult of all. Problems with security, logistics, access to remote areas and populations that refuse to cooperate have to be overcome.
So, how will another $1.5 billion be used? Here are just a few examples of what your contributions will support:
Rental cars to canvass neighborhoods – for volunteers to go door to door in large cities as well as in remote areas.
Training and support of community volunteer vaccinators
Establishing vaccination points in highly trafficked transit areas
Setting up of environmental sampling in remote areas of the countries
Supporting the network of 145 highly sophisticated laboratories around the world that can identify the disease
Continued vigilance when a case of paralysis is reported – take specimens and analyze them
Establishment of additional Permanent Transit Points to provide shelter for polio teams
Funding for continued logistical planning by technical experts
Large scale communication efforts to share the benefits of vaccinations
Vaccine carriers, water coolers, umbrellas, solar refrigerators
Once the final case of polio is recorded, it will take three years to ensure that the last case, is in fact, the final one.
Fund raising is so vital at this time. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will discontinue their 2:1 match in 2018. This will also probably be the last year that our District will match your contribution,