Mission to end polio worldwide
POLIO was eradicated from the UK many years ago but in parts of India the disease is still a harrowing reality that blights children's lives.
Thirty-four Rotary volunteers from Yorkshire have just returned from a 10-day trip to India where they took part in a drive to eradicate polio through an immunisation programme. The party included Gillian Poole from Brighouse, president-elect of Mirfield Rotary club, and John Philip, of Fixby, district governor of 82 Rotary clubs in West and North Yorkshire, and his wife Chris.
For all three it was a rewarding, moving and eye-opening experience. They were in the state of Uttar Pradesh to join the fight against polio on National Immunisation Day and were able to help administer oral vaccines to thousands of children under five in the city of Lucknow and its outskirts.
Gillian, who is an early years improvement manager with Calderdale Council, said: "I wanted to go out to India because I wanted to help raise awareness about polio and help in the last push against this crippling disease. National Immunisation Day is very well-organised. There is a huge advertising campaign on TV and radio urging parents to get their children immunised and special booths are set up on street corners. It is a massive effort.
"A lot of the children hadn't seen Europeans before so we were a bit of novelty and I think that helped in getting them to come along and see what was happening. On one day we were working from the booths and the next day we went out knocking on doors to see if there were any homes with children who hadn't been vaccinated as well as trying to reach travelling families."
Gillian, who is 51 and has two daughters, Gemma aged 24 and Faye, 21, was working in a rural area just outside Lucknow where the last recorded case of polio was in 2006.
"It was a very primitive environment. There was poor sanitation, water came from a pump and there were water buffalo wandering round but the friendliness and warmth of the people was truly inspiring. The community was very supportive and everyone helped each other and shared what they had."
After taking part in the immunisation programme, Gillian also got the chance to visit an orphanage in Lucknow, run by Rotary, which looks after children aged from birth to 10.
"Some of them had been abandoned by their families, some of them were street children. It was quite a tearjerker to see what they'd had to cope with in their young lives."
She also visited a school where Rotary is helping to raise money for a science lab and a centre for adults with learning difficulties.
John and Chris Philip were based in the city of Lucknow where they were treated like minor celebrities. Chris said: "We had taken out lots of small gifts, just tokens really – things like pencils, masks, whistles, hairclips and so on, to give to the children when they had been immunised.
(Full story and more pictures in the Brighouse Echo 19/2/2009)
http://www.rotary.org This generated such a lot of excitement because so many of the children where we were working in the slum areas have so little of their own.”
The Rotary members were working alongside other volunteers and professionals from the World Health Organisation and Unicef. Since Rotary made polio eradication its top priority in 1985, the number of countries where the disease is a threat has been reduced to just four: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Chris said: “In the area where we were the number of cases has gone down from 800 in 2007 to 107 last year. But we have to keep up the momentum.
“Polio is a horrible disease that causes a lot of pain and distress and furthermore blights the lives of children who contract it. They become marginalised within their community and it’s not unusual to see people who have suffered from polio begging on the streets. Polio just doesn’t register on our radar in the UK because we have been so successful at eradicating it here and the aim is to eradicate it everywhere.”
John, a retired hospital consultant, said: “Polio is only a plane ride away. Complacency must not put our children and grandchildren at risk. We are supporting our fellow Rotarians in India and are committed to continuing to raise funds to support the initiative.”
As well as setting up the 2,700 immunisation booths, the party of 34 Rotary volunteers also transported the vaccine and helped with distributing it.
“The vaccine was administered as drops on the tongue and three or four of the booths ran out of vaccine because of the overwhelming response,” said Chris, a retired teacher.
“It was a huge task – there are one million children under the age of five in Lucknow. But the response was so enthusiastic that we’ve all come away with happy memories.
“It was a life-changing experience.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
