From Tony Allchurch, chairman, Rotary Polio-Plus Committee.
ALMOST unnoticed by the national media is the alarming news that an epidemic of polio has recently been reported in Sudan, centred around Port Sudan, but also spreading from there to the neighbouring countries of Kenya and Uganda and elsewhere.

Many years ago, Jersey also knew fear and panic when, in 1949, polio hit the Island and affected 42 people. Some of them died, many were seriously ill and paralysed, and some that survived still suffer from its cruel effects, even today.

But thanks to the advent of safe and effective vaccines, polio has become a thing of the past in this Island, and it has long been consigned to history. The same is now true for 99.8% of the rest of the world thanks to Rotary International, working in partnership with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and governments of many countries.

In 1988, nearly 350,000 cases of polio were recorded in 125 countries. But 20 years later an eradication programme has been hugely successful and fewer than 2,000 cases of polio were reported worldwide in 2008.

However, as the current outbreak in Sudan sadly reminds us, as long as a single child remains infected with polio anywhere in the world, children in every country will still be at risk of contracting this terrible disease.

In India a massive campaign takes place each year to immunise the country’s population of children under five, that is 175 million children, on National Immunisation Day. It costs only 50 pence to protect a child against polio, but that means that we will need hundreds of millions of pounds if we are to succeed in eradicating this disease.

Much of this money has been pledged by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the United States and Bill Gates has made a personal commitment to continue his support until polio is eliminated from every country in the world.

Rotary clubs across the world are also committed to this immense challenge through community fund-raising events and projects. In Jersey, the two Rotary clubs are working together on a programme of fashion shows and concerts, sponsored walks and flag days, and we hope that the people of Jersey will support these events as they have done so generously in the past.

Many people still remember when polio was a serious hazard for young children in the Island and they will know someone who was actually affected by the disease. Some 30% of those who were diagnosed with infantile paralysis but survived now have to endure the effects of post-polio syndrome.

If we can succeed in this final push to end polio now, and actually eradicate it from the world, it will be an awesome achievement and we will be making history when it happens.
La Cachette,
Vallée des Vaux,
St Helier.