By Josh Staloch
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – While the horrors of polio, a paralyzing, infectious disease which spreads through contaminated drinking water and mainly affects children under the age of 5 – leading to irreversible paralysis, have been in the rearview mirror in America for more than three decades, the disease is still active in parts of the underdeveloped world.
On Monday, Oct. 26, two days after World Polio Day, the Rotary Club of Green Bay hosted Michael McGovern, chair of Rotary International’s PolioPlus Campaign, to talk about progress made and the work yet to be done as the world closes in on defeating polio once and for all.
“We’re going to eradicate polio,” McGovern said to an online audience of about 35 people. “It’s our turn to get it done and in order to get it done, it’s all about convincing. Convincing the mothers, the fathers and the leaders to get their kids vaccinated.”
Rotary International made the fight against polio one of its cornerstone causes in 1985, and McGovern has spent time on the frontlines of the organization’s efforts to put an end to the disease forever.
Since getting involved in the fight, Rotarians have contributed more than $1.1 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
McGovern said during his presentation it was the Rotary which brought Bill and Melinda Gates into the effort against polio, and the Gates Foundation has now spent more than $4 billion on the cause.
However, the fight still continues.
McGovern said polio is still endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where political and cultural divides can often get in the way of progress.
But, he said Rotary is committed to seeing the end of polio and makes an effort to highlight the facts concerning how quickly the disease could return to prevalence should the global community give up on the effort now.
“If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year,” according to the Rotary Club’s website,
With cases in 2020 so far, according to McGovern’s presentation, at just 53 for Afghanistan and 79 for Pakistan, the end goal of 100 percent eradication is now within reach.
“The passion that thousands and thousands of Rotarians have had for polio eradication… it just sustains to get this done,” McGovern said. “And we are going to get it done.”