Nipawin Rotary Club President Pat Chernesky (right) with District Governor Fred Wright. (submitted photo/Pat Chernesky)

By Cam Lee

Eradicating Polio

Rotary seeking to raise awareness and funds through World Polio Day

Oct 24, 2019 | 11:54 AM

Oct. 24 is World Polio Day.

Rotary International launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1985, which includes a number of organizations including the World Health Organization, U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“It’s the largest humanitarian project ever undertaken by a service club,” Nipawin Rotary Club President Pat Chernesky said.

The goal of the initiative is to immunize the children of the world against polio, an illness that can lead to paralysis and death.

According to the Canadian Public Health Association, an estimated 11,000 people in Canada were left paralyzed by the disease just between 1949 and 1954 alone.

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Canada was declared polio free in 1994, and polio cases have dropped by 99.9 per cent since 1988, thanks in large part to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Chernesky said the initiative has been very effective in moving toward the elimination of the disease.

“There have been three polio viruses isolated and we have eliminated two of them. There’s only one type of polio virus left to eliminate,” Chernesky said. “The toughest part of the job is actually now; polio is endemic in only two countries now, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

There remain several challenges, as Chernesky said the two countries both have political strife, and certain groups within them are very resistant to vaccination use.

Chernesky said it’s important for people to be aware of the need to fully eradicate polio, and if they can to donate to Rotary to pay for vaccines, labs, and other items needed to make that goal a reality.

“Financial donations big or small are very much appreciated, they’re tax receiptable by Rotary,” Chernesky said.

While many people aren’t as familiar with polio as past generations were, Chernesky said most have a grandparent or someone else they know that had the disease in the past.

She added it’s a virus that knows no borders.

“It can come over to any country – just a matter of an airplane and a few hours, we could have polio here,” said Chernesky. “So we want to immunize everybody in every country of the world.”

You can learn more about Rotary International’s World Polio Day below.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974