This week will be critical for polio eradication. When health ministers from World Health Organisation (WHO) member states meet in Geneva (May 21–26) for the annual World Health Assembly, one key resolution on the table is to declare polio a global health emergency.
This is good news for India for many reasons. First, India has been officially off the list of polio-endemic countries since January 2012 but will be certified “polio-free” only if it remains so for three years. Second, out of the three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) which remain polio-endemic, two are in India’s neighbourhood and it helps India to have the global spotlight on polio. Third, countries in the polio-endemic list are looking to India for key lessons. Fourth, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is facing a significant funding shortfall of over $1 billion for activities in 2012-13, and a shared concern about how to mobilise resources in the middle of a global economic slowdown is vital to ensure that there is no complacency.
The challenges as well as the possibilities were in sharp focus at the 103rd Rotary International Convention held in Bangkok earlier this month. Polio was the big issue at the conference which brought together more than 35,000 Rotarians from 23 countries. Rotary members worldwide have been at the forefront of the battle against polio. The Bangkok meet was attended by many distinguished personalities like Muhammed Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist who founded the Grameen Bank that has blazed a trail by offering small loans to poor people without collateral. Yunus, who (along with the Grameen Bank) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, is the latest to canvas for Rotary’s “This Close” campaign to fight polio.
At Bangkok, India and Rotary came in for high praise from WHO’s top leadership which backs the resolution to declare polio a global health emergency. “India’s removal from the polio-endemic list is perhaps the most important milestone ever on the long road to eradication. It’s a magnificent achievement. And it is a Rotary achievement. Today, Rotary’s vision of a polio-free world is much closer to reality. But an upsurge in cases of paralysis from polio in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan and recent polio outbreaks in China, the Congo, and Tajikistan have also prompted an unprecedented push to finally end the disease. The world understands the full consequences of failure. We must be faster, we must be more focused and each one of us must be fully accountable,” said Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General for Polio, Emergencies and Country Collaboration, WHO, one of the key speakers.
The battle against polio is on its last lap. In 2012, only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988. Persistent pockets of polio transmission in northern Nigeria and the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are the current focus of the polio eradication initiative.
Health advocates stress that as long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. In 2009-10, 23 previously polio-free countries were re-infected due to imports of the virus.
Success hinges on whether money can be found to finance the next steps of the global eradication initiative. Worryingly, emergency eradication activities had to be scaled back in 24 at-risk countries because of inadequate funds in the first quarter of 2012.
At the Rotary meet in Bangkok, money for polio was the big issue. Rotary members celebrated their success in raising more than $200 million in new funding for polio eradication in response to a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We have helped to build peace through our single largest and most significant project: PolioPlus,” said Mr Kalyan Banerjee, President, Rotary International.
The Rotary leadership also rallied the faithful to keep up the good work of not only mobilising much-needed resources but also advocating with governments and international aid agencies not to slash funds for polio at this critical juncture.
One key issue that came to the fore was Rotary’s role in mobilising corporate support. Two of the big donors to Rotary’ International’s polio initiative have an India connection. Rajashree Birla, chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, has been a key supporter of Rotary’s campaign to eradicate polio. Over the years, Birla has contributed some $5.2 million to Rotary’s coffers. She followed that up recently by committing an additional $1 million for polio eradication. Birla has also helped rope in Usha and Lakshmi Mittal, Chair and CEO of Arcellor Mittal, the world’s largest steelmaker. The Mittals have given $1 million in support of Rotary’s $200 million challenge.
At Bangkok, it was also evident that countries that are still on the polio-endemic list were looking to India for micro-lessons on how to overcome the obstacles they faced. Aziz Memon, National Chair, Pakistan Polio Plus Committee, told this reporter that there has been a spurt in polio cases in Pakistan.
In 2010, Pakistan reported 13 cases of polio. In 2011, that number shot up to 34. As of April 30, 2012, there were already 15 reported polio cases in Pakistan. Thirty-three districts are described as “high risk”. Many of these districts were in conflict-scarred pockets with displaced populations in makeshift camps. Floods had also severely strained the health system in many areas, affecting the cold chain which is critical for transporting the polio vaccine at the appropriate temperature, Mr Memon said.
Nigeria is also seeking India’s help in dealing with its polio problem. “There are many micro lessons from India’s experience in tackling polio — how to mobilise religious leaders to win over communities which have been resistant to polio vaccination. The Nigerian Inter-Faith Association and Muslim clerics are being mobilised for this purpose. We are also looking to India for polio corrective surgery. Indian Rotarians will mobilise doctors who can go to Nigeria to conduct such surgery. The greatest lesson is that if India, such a vast country with so many challenges, can get off the polio-endemic list, so can we,” said Busuyi Onabulu, the chair of Rotary’s Nigeria National Polio Plus.

The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee @gmail.com