PHILIPSBURG:---- In recognition of World Polio Day on 24 October, Marcellia Henry, President Rotary Club St Martin Sunrise, urges all parents on Sint Maarten to join them in the global fight to eradicate polio by taking their children to the Baby Clinic of Collective Prevention Services, Ministry of Public Health Social Development and Labour, to vaccinate against Polio Myelitis.
According the Center for Disease Control, Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body). This can be prevented by vaccinating children against this viral disease.
Rotary, globally, has contributed more than US$1.4 billion to ending polio, including over US$ 2000.00 contributed by the Rotary club of St Martin Sunrise over the past 4 years. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation triple funds contributed to Rotary thanks to a 2:1 match.
Its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership that also includes the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, join Rotary in the fight to end polio.
In 1985 during a Pan American Health Organization, Directing Council meeting, a resolution was passed declaring to eradicate polio in the Americas by 1990 and in 1994 the International Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication, an independent commission tasked with overseeing regional polio eradication efforts, declared the Americas, including Sint Maarten, to be polio free.
The world followed suit and in 1988 a global resolution passed during the World Health Assembly to eradicate polio by the year 2000. Tremendous progress has been made and 80% of the world’s population now lives in polio free areas according to the World Health Organization. Challenges remain in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
This World Polio Day, there are some incredible achievements to celebrate!
- WHO removed Nigeria from the list of polio-endemic countries, September 25, 2015
- The Global Certification Commission certified wild poliovirus type 2 (WPV2) as eradicated, September 20, 2015
- A year without wild polio across the entire African continent.
- Progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Ending outbreaks in the Middle East and Horn of Africa
