PLANNING AHEAD: A chance to make a difference - The Mercury

PLANNING AHEAD: A chance to make a difference - The Mercury

PLANNING AHEAD: A chance to make a difference - The Mercury

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:30 PM PDT

There are few times in life when we get the chance to make a difference that will continue on into the indefinite future. Even fewer opportunities present themselves where average people can do it. Eradicating a disease from the face of the earth entirely would be one of these chances. It was done with smallpox.

Now, according to Rotary International, an organization I believe in, it is polio's turn to end completely. World Polio Day — Oct. 24 — was marked with a gathering in front of the Historic Courthouse in West Chester, Chester County. For information about how to participate in the movement to end this disease worldwide, visit the Rotary International website, www.rotary.org. There is also another way.

On Sunday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m., West Chester's Knauer Uptown Performing Arts Center will host a documentary "Dare to Dream," showing the progress of the End Polio Now movement, as well as what continues to be done and what can be done to meet the objective to end the disease. It will be combined with food, beverages and networking along with awareness raising and celebration to support local Rotary District efforts for this worldwide initiative. For information and tickets visit uptownwestchester.org/.

For many years, Rotary has targeted the elimination of polio as a primary objective. It is no small initiative. For the next three years the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match every $1 given for polio eradication through Rotary, two-to-one, up to $50 million per year.

Two of my uncles had polio. One was affected in walking, the other in his arm. Those old enough will remember mass immunizations in this country conducted through the schools. Polio is one of those diseases that, if we do not see it, we believe it no longer exists. It is extremely contagious. It has no cure. The way to end it is through immunization. In 1994 as the result of successful immunizations, the Americas were declared polio free.

In 2011 India was declared polio free with no new instances of the disease for several years. Currently Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to incur new cases and Nigeria is still at risk. Various numbers have been given, but the most recent I have heard is 88 cases worldwide. Polio can spread. It has been described as a plane ride away. An estimated 10% of Americans have not been immunized.

This is not the only Rotary health initiative but it is regarded as key. Obstacles include nations at war, and with a lack of sanitation and adequate health care, cases can spread in refugee camps. In the course of working to eradicate polio, workers — including those from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the CDC and governments throughout the world — have encountered stubborn resistance from these factors and lack of understanding.

It is easier today to protect children from polio than in the past. Years ago polio immunizations were only administered by injection. Today, a few drops can save a child from the disease without invasive procedures.

For those who question the initiative, Rotary International gives five reasons to eradicate polio:

1. To Improve Lives. A total of 16 million people are walking today who would have otherwise been paralyzed.

2. To Invest in the Future. If polio isn't eradicated, within 10 years, as many as 200,000 children could be paralyzed by it each year. A polio-free world will be a safer world for children everywhere.

3. To Improve Child Health. Polio surveillance networks and vaccination campaigns also monitor children for other health problems like vitamin deficiency and measles, so they can be addressed sooner.

4. To Save Money. A polio-free world will save the global economy $40-$50 billion in health costs within the next 20 years.

5. To Make History. Polio eradication would be one of history's greatest public health achievements, with polio following smallpox to become only the second human disease eliminated from the world.

Make it happen.

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