The latest news about our effort and our partnerss dedication to - TopicsExpress



          

The latest news about our effort and our partnerss dedication to eradicate Polio Subject: Global Polio Eradication Initiative Independent Monitoring Board Report Dear PolioPlus Committees and EPNZCs: On behalf of International PolioPlus Committee Chair Mike McGovern, below is further information related to the most recent Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report sent earlier this week. Rotary, like the IMB, Rotary and its partners in polio eradication are alarmed at the explosive outbreak of polio in Pakistan and cautiously optimistic about the progress in Nigeria, and on the African continent. One very important development is that the Prime Minister of Pakistan will convene a meeting of the National Task Force on Polio Eradication on 5 November. All of the country’s Chief Ministers have been called to attend the meeting. In addition, Rotary’s National PolioPlus Committee Chair in Pakistan, Aziz Memon, will attend that meeting and have the opportunity to make remarks. It is likely that you will get questions about the report and the information below is provided to help you respond. Please also note that the Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board will visit Rotary in mid-December to meet with Rotary leadership to further discuss the report, and progress against the recommendations and polio eradication overall. Pakistan · Rotary and its GPEI partners are alarmed at the explosive outbreak of polio in Pakistan. · Rotarians in Pakistan are working hard to engage government officials and partners at all levels to encourage high-level government commitment to polio eradication activities. In particular, National PolioPlus Chair Aziz Memon met with the Chief Minister of Punjab, brother to the Prime Minister, and encouraged him to engage the Prime Minister in polio eradication. · On the occasion of World Polio Day, 24 October, the Prime Minister of Pakistan immunized children against polio and stated his government’s commitment to protect all children from the wild poliovirus. Rotary encourages all levels of government to fully commit to eradicating polio in Pakistan and to stemming the alarming spike in cases seen thus far in 2014. · Rotarians in Pakistan are providing complementary health services to communities through health camps to address the broader health care needs of communities and to encourage parents to have their children immunized against polio. Nigeria · Rotary is proud of the progress Nigeria has made in the fight against polio with only six cases reported this year. The last case was reported in July 2014. · Rotary applauds the vigilance and determination shown by the government of Nigeria during the recent Ebola outbreak in Lagos. Nigeria’s swift attention to the Ebola outbreak not only saved lives, but also ensured limited disruption to efforts to immunize children against polio and other infectious diseases. · Rotary encourages the government to implement a strategy to eliminate circulating vaccine derived polio viruses. Efforts to address this have begun with the use of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in some northern states to provide immunity against circulating type 2 polio and Nigeria will introduce one dose of IPV into their routine immunization system which will provide further protection against this virus type. · Rotary and the government of Nigeria co-hosted a Polio Summit in April 2014 which has been identified by senior government officials as a positive turning point in Nigeria’s efforts to eradicate polio—noting the Summit served to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of government and partners, including Rotary. · Rotary encourages the government of Nigeria to urgently release the US$50 million in domestic funding pledged by the government. Outbreak countries · In response to the high risk for polio outbreaks in Ukraine and the Philippines, efforts are underway to engage Rotarians in those countries to advocate for government and partner attention to protecting children from the importation of a wild poliovirus. · Rotarians in the Philippines have been reenergized on the issue of polio through the engagement with government and partners on the introduction this year of one dose of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) into the routine immunization system there. Rotarians participated in events surrounding this activity in October of this year. Rotary International Director Guiller Tumangan has been actively engaged in these activities and International PolioPlus Committee Chair and Trustee Vice Chair Mike McGovern is traveling to the Philippines in November and will have the opportunity to meet with Rotarians, GPEI partners and government officials to discuss the risk of polio to the Philippines. · Rotarians in Cameroon are working with government officials and partners to increase the quality of vaccination campaigns in order to stop the spread of polio there. · The National PolioPlus Committee in Cameroon will meet with partner representatives during a visit there in late October/early November to develop a strategy to stop the outbreak. · Rotary encourages the President and/or Vice President of Equatorial Guinea to play a leadership role in communicating the importance to all levels of government the importance of quickly strengthening the infrastructure needed to conduct high quality polio immunization and disease surveillance activities to ensure the outbreak is stopped. Carol Pandak Director | PolioPlus Tel 1.847.866.3304 rotary.org
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 05:32:00 +0000

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