PROCLAMATION PRESENTATION TO DISTRICT GOVERNOR NEIL PHILLIPS::
Bob Chapman, Durham Regional Councilor, on behalf of Durham Regional Chair Roger Anderson, presented to all 10 Durham Region Rotary Club Presidents their personal Proclamations, noting that October 24 is World Polio Day in the Region of Durham, before the Rotary meeting started. During the meeting, he then presented a Proclamation to District 7070 Governor Neil Phillips and thanked all Rotarians for all that they are doing to eradicate polio from the world. He also thanked all Rotarians for the many service activities they are doing, particularly in the Durham Region, on so many humanitarian fronts.
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Bob Scott – Past Chair of the Board of The Rotary Foundation; Past Vice President Rotary International; Past Chair International Polio Plus Committee
President Ted introduced Dr. Bob Scott and welcomed Ann to our rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood. Bob Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and received a medical degree with distinction in dermatology and chest diseases from the University of Edinburgh in 1957. After his internship and two years of military service, he spent six years in general practice in North Wales. In 1966, Bob emigrated to Cobourg, Canada where he continued as a general practitioner until 1994. He then served as medical director of a home for the elderly and other geriatric facilities until 1997. He was a coroner for the Province of Ontario and investigated more than 1,200 cases before retiring in May 2000. In 2004, Bob became a Rotary Foundation trustee. In 2006, he began his term as chair of the International PolioPlus Committee. A Paul Harris Fellow, Bob has received the Rotary International Service Above Self Award, The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, the International Service Award for a Polio-Free World, and the Four Avenues of Service Citation. He has been named an outstanding leader in polio eradication by the United Nations Foundation and has received the Glenn Sawyer Service Award from the Ontario Medical Association for professional and community achievement.
Bob has annually presented updates to our club and to many Rotary clubs in District 7070, and this year was no exception. He started by asking why are we doing this. It is because of the kids. Particularly those in the third world . We had the vaccine for nearly 60 years and did nothing to prevent polio. And so Rotary began the program. In 1985, 350,000 cases of polio per year. That's almost 1,000 per day.
Bob then asked who is eradicating polio. Bob noted the tremendous partnership of Rotary, Unicef, the Centre for Disease Control, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, and the Governments of the World. Quite a mix of public and private organizations that really work well together.
But tonight, Bob really wanted to talk tonight about the vaccinators - the real heroes, who in some cases, fear for their own lives, as they could be shot while administering the vaccine. This year alone, 20 vaccinators have died and several others seriously injured and Bob serves on a committee to decide how their families will be looked after.
Bob then talked about “How” we are eradicating polio. He talked about the Dr Sabin oral vaccine ( 2 drops of the live polio virus) that has been used so successfully for so many years, and the recent shift to the Dr Salk's inactivated polio vaccine It is given intradermally which can be very tricky especially in newborns (IPV) with no live virus. To completely eradicate polio, we can't give a vaccine with live polio in it. It must be the IPV. The original plan consisted of routine immunization, national days of immunization (such as in India where 175 million children are immunized in 5 days), followed by surveillance and mop up programs.
The first Rotary campaign to raise funds was at the 1988 Rotary International Convention in Philadelphia (Devon and Linda were there) when it was announced that Rotary had raised $284 million US for the first campaign. Rotary has been responsible for raising 1.812 billion US as of Sept 30, 2017, while spending $1.73 billion over that period of time (from 1988 thru 2017). The costs have been kept down because of the volunteers – The Rotary volunteers. The latest big surge of money came at the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta in June 2017 . Bill Gates (plus Rotarians) pledged $450 million (Bill Gates $300 and Rotarians $150 million); Pakistan gave $154 million; Nigeria gave $135 million and Canada gave $75 million USD all in one day in Atlanta, to help finish the job we started in 1985.
The biggest difficulties are the transportation of the vaccine to the areas that require it, and the conflicts that exist in the world are in the areas where polio exists (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the northern part of Nigeria).
Bob noted that we still need the routine immunization. With the IPV method, this can be coupled with vitamin A, Ebola and cholera vaccines.
What is our progress? In 2015, there were 70 cases worldwide. In 2016 there were 37 cases and so far this year (Jan 1 thru Oct 23) - 12 cases – 7 in Afghanistan and 5 in Pakistan. Bob is hoping for the day that we certify that Polio is eradicated (that occurs three years after the last case has been detected).
Our Treasurer and Past President Devon Biddle thanked Bob for his expert and first-hand update on polio eradication, every Rotarian's signature project.
For a look at the photos of World Polio Day, be sure to go to the photo albums that appear on our www.rotary7070.org and www.rotaryoshawa-parkwood.org websites and on our club and District Facebook pages.
Meeting Adjourned by President Ted Morrison
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