Club News

Hello to all our NSW and ACT Supporters!
 
I’m very excited to be heading your way in a week and extremely honoured to be representing Gemma and everyone at St Jude’s during our 10th Anniversary promotional tour. Gemma’s disappointment at not being able to do this trip herself is quelled by the fact she is looking forward to the arrival of her fourth child later in the year and I’m pleased to say she is looking very well and happy!
 
So, what qualifies me to step into Gemma’s shoes at this time? Well, in early 2002 I joined Gemma and Angela Bailey, the very first volunteer, in Arusha to help out for a few months painting classrooms or digging a veggie garden – whatever was needed. I’m still here. And now as Deputy Director of the school I have the great privilege of spending every day mentoring staff, solving problems and generally being involved in some way with every aspect of school life. I love my job! And I would love to share with you some of the stories of the past 10 years, explain our hopes for the future and answer any questions you may have.
 
More importantly, I would love to have the opportunity to thank as many of our supporters as possible, personally, for their loyalty and dedication to our staff and students over the last 10 years – you are the people who have made St Jude’s possible and will help us to keep it going well into the future.
 
Below is list of events that anyone may attend (with family and friends!) around the state during March and April 2012. For more information please visit our website.
 
Kim
 
St Jude’s 10th Anniversary Promotional Tour - Events around NSW and ACT
 
Multi-Club Rotary Meeting – Chatswood, St Ives, Lane Cove & Berowra
Date: Wednesday 7th March 2012
Time: 6.30pm for 7pm
Venue: Pymble Golf Club
Venue Address: Cowan Road, St Ives, Sydney
Booking Contact: Michael MacQuillan – Michael_QX@bigpond.com or 0406 926 713
Cost: $35 (Dinner)
 
Zonta Club of Sydney West celebrating International Women’s Day
Date: Thursday 8th March 2012
Time: 6:30am
Venue: Greyhound Club
Venue Address: Rookwood Road, Yagoona, Sydney
RSVP: Friday 16th February 2012
Booking Contact: Diana Humphries – 0407 886 215
Cost: Adults $30 and Students $20 (Breakfast)

 ** Payment. All payments are requested prior to the function. Payment can be made either by Cheque – made out to the ‘Zonta Club of Sydney West’ and sent to 1 Lincoln Rd, Georges Hall NSW 2198
or
Direct Deposit
Account Name: Zonta Club of Sydney West
BSB: 032-182
Account Number: 99-1357
Identify payment by adding your name and number of Adults and/or Student tickets e.g. PBrown A2 S4
 
Women on Boards - Sydney
Date: Thursday 8th March 2012
Time: 5.30pm
Venue: The Tea Room QVB, George Street, Sydney
Venue Address: Level 3, North End, Queen Victoria Building, 455
Booking Contact: Louise Krause – louise@womenonboards.org.au  
Booking Details: To register for the event please go to http://www.womenonboards.org.au/my/events/
Cost: $77 WOB subscriber/$88 non-WOB subscriber (Cocktail Function – drinks and canapés)
 
Soroptimist International of the Hawkesbury
Date: Saturday 10th March 2012
Time: 7.30am
Venue: Hawkesbury Race Course at Clarendon
Venue Address: Race Course Road, Clarendon
Booking Contact: Mrs Pam Stoneman – (02) 4572 3027 (evenings) or 0438 344 072
Cost: $30 – Full Buffet Breakfast
 
Our Lady of Fatima Peakhurst - Mass
Date: Saturday 10th March 2012
Time: 5pm Mass
Venue: Our Lady of Fatima Peakhurst
Venue Address: 825 Forest Road, Peakhurst
Cost: Gold Coin Donation

Rotary Club of Como-Jannali
Date: Tuesday 27th March 2012
Time: 6.30pm for 7pm start
Venue: Como Hotel – 2nd Floor
Venue Address: 35 Creona Street, Como, Sydney
Booking Contact: Lyn Bates (0408 284 082)
Cost: $35 (Dinner)
 
Trivia Night - Wollongong
Date: Friday 30th March 2012
Time: 6.45pm for 7.15pm
Venue: Towradgi Surf Life Saving Club
Venue Address: 1 Murranar Road, Towradgi
Booking Contact: Cameron Brown (Explore Discover Act) – explorediscoveract@gmail.com
Cost: $25 per person (10 per table)
** Guests are able to bring drinks and snacks for their table. Soft drinks available to buy at the venue.
 
St Therese Catholic Church – Dover Heights Mass
Date: Saturday 31st March 2012
Time: 5pm Mass
Venue: St Therese Catholic Church – Dover Heights
Venue Address: Cnr Napier and Dover Rd, Dover Heights, Sydney
 
St Mary Magdalene – Rose Bay Mass
Date: Sunday 1st April 2012
Time: 8am Mass and 10am Mass
Venue: St Mary Magdalene
Venue Address: 835 News South Head Rd, Rose Bay, Sydney
 
Canberra – St Edmunds School
Date: Monday 2nd April 2012
Time: 8.55am
Venue: Treacy House, St Edmunds School
Venue Address: 110 Canberra Ave, Manuka
Booking Contact: Leanne Gair LGair@stedmunds.act.edu.au or Jason Moore jmoore@stedmunds.act.edu.au
Cost: Free
 
Canberra Wine & Cheese Night for St Jude’s
Date: Monday 2nd April 2012
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Secretariat
Venue Address: 63 Currong St North, Braddon, ACT
Booking Contact: Beth Doherty – RSVP essential - media@catholic.org.au or 0407 081 256
Cost: $20 suggested donation, more welcome
 
Armidale Public Presentation
Date: Wednesday 4th April 2012
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: NECOM Auditorium
Venue Address: Cnr Mossman & Faulkner Street, Armidale
Booking Contact: Lynda Lynch (0413 084 567)
Cost: Free
 
Kim Saville
Deputy Director
School of St Jude
www.schoolofstjude.co.tz

Rotarians have significant reasons to celebrate Rotary’s 107th anniversary on 23 February.

Major gains have been made in the fight to eradicate polio, Rotary’s top priority. In January, India reached a historic milestone by marking a full year without recording a new case of polio. The country has been an epicenter of the crippling childhood disease.

Worldwide, fewer than 650 polio cases were confirmed for 2011, less than half the 1,352 infections reported in 2010. Overall, the annual number of polio cases has plummeted by more than 99 percent since the initiative was launched in 1988, when polio infected about 350,000 children a year. More than 2 billion children have been immunized in 122 countries, preventing 5 million cases of paralysis and 250,000 deaths.

Also in January, Rotary leaders announced that Rotary clubs raised more than US$200 million in response to a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In recognition of Rotary’s commitment, the Gates Foundation contributed an additional $50 million. All of the resulting $605 million will be spent in support of immunization activities in polio-affected countries.  

 “We’ll celebrate this milestone, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop raising money or spreading the word about polio eradication,” Rotary Foundation Trustee John F. Germ told Rotary leaders at the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA. “We can’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio-free.” 

End Polio Now lightings
In what has become a Rotary anniversary tradition, Rotary clubs around the world are illuminating iconic structures with the End Polio Now message.

This year, light displays center on Pakistan, where Rotary clubs will illuminate Frere Hall in Karachi and the WAPDA House in Lahore. Other lighting sites include the Tower of London; City Government Building in Taipei, Taiwan; Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, Tokyo’s fifth tallest building; Federation Square, one of southern Australia’s top tourist draws; and two famous landmarks in Brazil -- the historic Sitio Arqueológico de São Miguel das Missões in Rio Grande do Sul, and the Palácio Garibaldi, a neo-classical architectural treasure in Curitiba.

 The lightings “carry Rotary’s pledge to end polio,” says RI President Kalyan Banerjee, a native of India. “But we are not there yet. Rotary and our partners will continue to immunize children until our goal of a polio-free world is achieved. ”

Rotary clubs around the globe have many things in common, including a commitment to service. All year long, clubs are taking action to make a difference in their communities. Here’s a roundup of recent club activities worldwide:

Canada
Two Interactors and three Rotaractors were among 120 young Canadians who attended an invitation-only barbecue with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Ottawa in June.  David Johnston, Governor General of Canada and a former Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, hosted the event with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to celebrate service and give the attendees an opportunity to tell the royal couple, government officials, and other dignitaries about their work. 

USA 
Rotarians in District 6960 (Florida) worked with high school students and other volunteers to package more than 1.3 million meals during a one-day event in May. Over 70 percent of children in the Rotary district receive free or reduced-price meals at school, but during the summer, many don’t have enough to eat. The packaged meals –rice and bean casserole and macaroni and cheese, fortified with vitamins and minerals – went to local food banks, which distributed them over the summer months.

Mexico  
A partnership between the Rotary Club of San Diego and nurses and doctors at Scripps Mercy Hospital has brought medical care to 9,000 people in remote Mexican villages since 1988. Rotarian volunteers include medical professionals, those providing logistical support, and members of clubs in Mexico. The Mercy Outreach Surgical Team has completed more than 40 weeklong missions, performing procedures to remove congenital tumours, correct cleft lips and palates and crossed eyes, and address other 
health problems.

Austria 
The Rotary Club of Mürzzuschlag-Semmering found a sweet way to support a community project: a 365-foot-long pastry created by a local bakery and displayed on a ― pastry coaster specially designed and built by club members Gerd Tomazic and Oswald Ebner. The club sold pieces of the pastry, raising €5,000 for medical equipment for a Red Cross ambulance, which now sports the club’s logo.

Lebanon  
The Rotary clubs of Beirut Centre and Tucson Sunrise, Ariz., USA, worked together in April to install a wastewater treatment system at Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut. The project, supported by a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant, will reduce the concentration of residual pharmaceuticals in the hospital’s wastewater, which helps irrigate gardens or travels through the sewer system into the Mediterranean Sea.

Kenya 
A five-day project brought Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Interactors to Nyumbani Village, home to more than 700 children who have lost family members to HIV/AIDS, to install two solar-powered irrigation wells. The Rotary Club of Greater Portage County (Stevens Point), Wis., USA, joined with the Rotary clubs of Karen-Nairobi and Machakos, Kenya, to carry out the effort, funded by a District Simplified Grant from District 6220 (parts of Michigan and Wisconsin). The group also helped with planting. The solar pumps will be the primary source of irrigation for the community, and will cost less to operate than the old diesel-powered pumps.

Korea
For the second year, District 3650 delivered 10,000 charcoal briquettes to low-income families in Seodaemun-gu, a subdivision of Seoul. Briquettes are a popular source of heat in Korea. Over 450 volunteers, including 120 Rotarians, 167 Interactors, and 142 Rotaractors, participated in the distribution, along with Seodaemun-gu President Suk Jin Moon and National Assembly member Sung Hun Lee.

Australia  
The Rotary Club of Wynyard (Tasmania) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Music Hall show in 2011. Originally organized as a one-time event called the Old Time Music Hall, the production has been held every year, despite setbacks including a fire in the 1990s that destroyed a shed containing all the props and costumes. The performances have raised more than A$1 million in support of local and international projects – in particular, educational programs for rural medical students.

Rotarians will help improve the delivery of vital health care services to West Africa through a new strategic partnership between The Rotary Foundation and the global charity Mercy Ships.

Through the partnership, the Foundation will offer packaged global grants for Rotary Clubs and districts to assemble vocational training teams of medical professionals.  These teams will perform or assist in life-changing surgeries.  The Rotarian volunteers will also work to enhance the skills of local health care professionals.

The initial projects will take place in West Africa, the area of operations for the charity‘s 16,500-ton state-of-the-art hospital ship, Africa Mercy, now based in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

This strategic partnership with Mercy Ships enables Rotary to work with a globally recognised leader in the delivery of vital medical and surgical care to the world‘s most vulnerable populations, says Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair William B. Boyd.  It allows Rotary Club members to directly contribute their valuable expertise and skills within the framework of a proven and highly successful health care program.

Founded in 1978, Mercy Ships uses its hospital ships to deliver free, world-class health care and assistance in capacity building and sustainable development to developing countries.  The charity has worked in more than 70 countries, performing services that have had an impact on more than 2.9 million people.  Each year, more than 1,200 surgeons, dentists, nurses, health care trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers, or agriculturalists volunteer their time and skills.

Rotarians have a record of working with Mercy Ships, carrying out projects in several countries.  The Rotary Clubs of Jacksonville, Florida, USA and Tema, Accra, Ghana, helped equip the Africa Mercy in 2007 to provide medical aid in Ghana.  Jacksonville Rotarians also partnered with the Rotary Club of Monrovia, Liberia to support eye and facial surgeries for more than 1,200 patients in Monrovia from 2008 to 2011.

Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland named Mercy Ships its Charity of Choice in 2005–06.

Rotary Foundation Global Grants support large, international projects with sustainable, high-impact outcomes in Rotary‘s areas of focus.  Packaged global grants developed by the Foundation and Mercy Ships will directly support the disease prevention and treatment area of focus.

Because the administrative work of designing the project and finding a partnering organisation has already been done, Rotary Clubs and districts can focus on identifying beneficiaries, providing technical expertise or direct service, and publicising the effort.

By Arnold R. Grahl – Rotary International News

Our recent opening of the new school in Borjegai, Afghanistan, generated a bit of media attention, and continues to, as people learn of the project and its significance.

Recently, the Northern District Times found the story so compelling, that they made it a major front page new item and gave it a further half a page inside.

Check out these two links to see the story:

Northern District Times Front Page Story (PDF)

Northern District Times Inside Story (PDF)

Ryde Rotary and the Indigo Foundation celebrate the building a school for 1000 students in Borjegai, Afghanistan.

Sydney, January 2011 – A local Rotary Club has found a way to make a difference in war-torn Afghanistan.  Ali Yunespour, an Afghan refugee now living in Sydney was inspired by his involvement in two Rotary programs – Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) – to do something for his people back home.

Through his work helping newly arrived immigrants from Afghanistan, Ali learned of the work one of his friends had been doing with Indigo Foundation, an Australian NGO, to establish schools in Afghanistan and, convinced of the value of education in bringing peace to the world, resolved to do what he could to further that work.

Ali sought the opportunity to speak to the Rotary Club of Ryde about his thoughts. In early 2009 the club started working with Ali and the Indigo Foundation to formulate a feasibility study for a school for 1000 boys and girls in Borjegai, a location in Afghanistan where schooling is limited, due to very cold winters and the lack of any school accommodation other than tents.

The project approach utilized The Rotary Club of Ryde’s strengths in project development and direction and Indigo Foundation’s very successful in-country network.

A clearly articulated memorandum committed all parties – including village leaders in Borjegai – to their defined roles, documented the project program and schedule, key milestones and resource commitments, and identified risks and risk management strategies.

The Rotary Club of Ryde provided project direction, high level management and $76,000 (AUD), covering construction work, school supplies and teachers salaries; Indigo Foundation utilized their tested network and contacts for funds transfer and disbursement and in-country management and administration; the Borjegai community provided a substantial proportion of the manual labour, and, of course, the land for the building.

Construction commenced in April 2010 and was completed in October 2010, an outstanding achievement, evidenced in the accompanying photographs. The school was officially opened recently, the number of people attending the ceremony providing ample evidence of just how significant this development is for the Borjegai community, and how effective it has been at building communities and bridging continents.

Ryde Rotary Club is now considering how to best provide ongoing support for the school, the most likely avenues being provision of school furniture and equipment, as well as teacher training. With the major step of school establishment complete, there is ample opportunity for any interested parties to participate in this life-changing and inspirational “good-news” program.

It was Afghanistan Night at the Rotary Club of Ryde, and this was another of our great nights this year.  Project Director and PP Rob Mitchell proposed the Loyal Toast after the Rotary Grace, and I welcomed the visitors, who had come to help us celebrate, including local federal member Mr John Alexander, John Booth and Ulrike Eichmeyer from the Weekly Times Newspaper, Guest Speaker James Brown, representatives of the Hazara Community and tireless Indigo Foundation workers Ali Yunespour and Salman Jan, and Indigo Foundation representative Alice Davies, filling in for Sally Stevenson.

For Rotary District 9680 we had District International Service Chair PP Peter Kindred from the Rotary Club of Chatswood.  Several other visitors and our ever-supportive wives were welcomed to this very important night celebrating a major milestone in a project run under our International Avenue of Service.

Project Director, Rob Mitchell was MC of our celebration of the successful construction of the School in Borjegai.  Rob has been the driving force of this project, both strategically and in the day-to-day project management.  He acknowledged the contribution of Anwar Haidari, who still lives in Afghanistan, so could not attend our night.

Alice Davies is Secretary of the Management Committee at the Indigo Foundation, having met Sally Stevenson in Ethiopia in 2008 where they were both working for Médecins Sans Frontières.  She thanked Ryde Rotary for helping the poor by building their capacity to help themselves.

Ali Yunespour spoke on “How I came to Rotary”; many of us knew some of the story having known Ali for several years.  In 2006 he represented Marsden High School at MUNA, and later that year we selected him for sponsorship to the Rotary Youth Leadership Award week.  Ali gave us the best "sell" of RYLA I have heard so far.  At the end of the week Ali understood that leadership requires ability, hard work and resources, so he came to Ryde Rotary looking for resources to build a School in his homeland.  He thanked PP Rob Mitchell for all the lessons learned over the last 18 months as they worked on the Borjegai Project together.  The only thing Ali got wrong was when he said he was sad "the Hazara people were not represented here tonight."  They were, and well, by Ali himself.

Introducing Salman Jan, Rob pointed out that the Indigo Foundation's first school in Afghanistan was Salman's initiative, and that this gave us the confidence to invest in the Borjegai School.  Salman talked us through a video of the school project giving us a good understanding of the horrific terrain; something like the Southern Alps without the trees.  "Travel through Ghazni province is hazardous", he understated.

Then it was my turn to present a Paul Harris Fellow Recognition to Salman Jan, which of course was a surprise to Salman.  My citation was along these lines;

“At Ryde Rotary, we try to give Paul Harris Fellow Recognition each year to a local person or persons outside the Club who have demonstrated SERVICE ABOVE SELF in their community service actions.  In 1957, the Rotary Foundation launched the Paul Harris Fellowship in memory of the founder of Rotary as an expression of appreciation for those who have contributed to the Foundation's humanitarian and educational programs.

A contribution of US$1,000 is made to the Rotary Foundation in the name of each individual to be honoured.  The recipients receive a pin, a medallion and a certificate that identify them as advocates of the Foundation's goals of world peace and understanding.  After more than forty years, recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow remains a respected and prestigious honour for Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike.

The board has voted to present a Paul Harris Fellow recognition to Salman Jan, the Indigo Foundation member who was our man on the ground in Borjegai. This recognition in no way minimises the efforts of other Indigo Foundation members in this Project, but without Salman to be our eyes and ears in Borjegai, the project of building the school would not have been possible.

As far as I know he's the only friend of Rotary who has actually risked his life for a Ryde Project. We decided the presentation should be made at this celebration of the completion of the Borjegai School. On behalf of the Rotary Club of Ryde I have great pleasure in recognising Salman's personal contribution to the Borjegai School Project and to the Rotary Club of Ryde by presenting him with a Paul Harris Fellow recognition.”

Our Guest speaker James Brown is a Military Associate at the Lowy Institute of International Policy, and served in the ADF in Afghanistan. He broke his back in a bicycle accident last week and is getting married next week, so it was a heroic effort to honour his commitment to speak to us. In Hospital his fiancé pointed out that the cricket box was invented in 1864 to protect the male testes, while the bicycle helmet was only invented in 1965 – Typically, men took a Century longer to realise they should protect their brains as well. I'm not sure where she was going with this story, but no doubt the partners will figure it out. 

He described a chaotic land of hundreds of valleys full of corrupt officials and insurgents.

Taliban members, narcotics warlord's gangsters and human traffickers are mixed into the local population.  He told of a young US Army Officer who found himself Judge in a trial of a 17-year-old boy tried as a terrorist, and of the hope offered by German contractors building roads to link isolated communities.  The hope is that the improved communications will lead to a world view larger than that formed by "Mother, Mullah and Mosque".  James’s method of explaining the security issue in Afghanistan by focusing on one small valley conveyed his clear and powerful message that any solutions in that country are tied to continuing infrastructure development and education of the population.  He applauded our efforts in Borjegai as being in line with that conviction.

His final slide showed our school on the left and three people on the right, and he spoke at length about the corruption and lack of ethics in both the legal and illegal groups in Afghanistan.  I strained my eyes to focus on the three corrupt Warlords on the screen only to realise it was a photo of Bill, Adrian and Burkhart on graffiti patrol!

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of PP Geoff Brennan in organising this night, and of PP Rob Mitchell in taking Ali's request for assistance and driving it all the way through to delivery of the Borjegai School over two Rotary Years.  It's been a great effort and we thank you, and the Indigo Foundation.  You have made our Rotary theme come alive:  Building Communities, and Bridging Continents!

President Allen Horrell

A Rotary Story of Community Building and Continent Bridging.

“Turning Stones into Schools in Afghanistan”

Once upon a time there was a young Afghan refugee named Ali, who came to Australia by way of a refugee camp in Pakistan.

He loved going to school in Australia, and in year 11 (his first year of school here) he attended District 9680’s MUNA as part of his school’s debating team.

His local Rotary Club was so impressed with his leadership potential that they sponsored him to RYLA, by which time Ali was becoming very aware of Rotary.

Through his work helping newly arrived immigrants from Afghanistan, Ali learned of the work one of his friends had been doing with Indigo Foundation, an Australian NGO, to establish schools in Afghanistan, and, convinced of the value of education in bringing peace to the world, resolved to do what he could to further that work.

He sought the opportunity to speak to the Rotary Club of Ryde about his thoughts, and in early 2009 the club started working with Ali and the Indigo Foundation to formulate a feasibility study for a school for 1000 boys and girls in Borjegai, a location where schooling is limited due to very cold winters and the lack of any school accommodation other than tents.

The project approach utilised the Club’s strengths in project development and direction, and Indigo Foundation’s very successful in-country network.

A clearly articulated memorandum committed all parties – including village leaders in Borjegai – to their defined roles, documented the project program and schedule, key milestones and resource commitments, and identified risks and risk management strategies.

The Rotary Club of Ryde provided project direction, high level management and $76,000 (AUD), covering construction work, school supplies and teachers salaries; Indigo Foundation utilized their tested network and contacts for funds transfer and disbursement and in-country management and administration; the Borjegai community provided a substantial proportion of the manual labour, and, of course, the land for the building.

Construction commenced in April 2010 and was completed in October 2010, an outstanding achievement, evidenced in the photographs in our gallery.

The school was then officially opened, the number of people attending the ceremony providing ample evidence of just how significant this development is for the Borjegai community, and how effective it has been at "Building Communities and Bridging Continents."

Ryde Club is now considering how to best provide ongoing support for the school, the most likely avenues being provision of school furniture and equipment, as well as teacher training.  With the major step of school establishment complete, there is ample scope for contribution from any other Rotary clubs wishing to assist in this life-changing initiative, and Ryde welcomes approaches from any interested Clubs.

More information about our project can be found here.

Shelterbox is one of the best ways that you can help with the Pakistan Floods

Web: www.shelterboxaustralia.com.au

Download PDF file here

In a visit to Africa’s most populous nation, Bill witnessed remarkable progress against polio, with lessons for the fight against infectious diseases worldwide.

With continued hard work and investment the world is on a path toward something pretty incredible, the eradication of polio.  In the past two decades, polio cases around the world have been reduced by 99 percent.  If we can get rid of the last one percent, polio will become the second major infectious disease, after smallpox, that has ever been completely eliminated.  There are still gaps in funding for polio eradication, and new outbreaks could reverse some of the progress made so far.  But if polio is eliminated, never again will a child be crippled by this terrible virus.

We have a chance to get there because of some great efforts, particularly by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which involves the World Health Organisation, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).  Our foundation is very involved in supporting polio immunisation campaigns and other efforts to educate parents and communities about the importance of immunisation.  We’re also supporting work to improve polio surveillance and to develop better vaccines and anti-poliovirus drugs.  

Northern India and northern Nigeria are two areas where polio continues to be a problem.

I visited northern India in May this year to see the progress there.  I was very excited to visit northern Nigeria in June, because the progress there since my last visit in February 2009 has been especially impressive.  As of 14 July, only five cases due to wild polio viruses were reported in Nigeria this year, versus hundreds last year.  I spent most of my first day in Kano, one of the northern states most vulnerable to polio.  I met with community leaders, visited a local health centre and stopped in at an informal school where students study the Koran in Arabic.

On the streets and most everywhere else we went, I noticed so many young children around.  Nigeria has more people by far than any other African country, and more than 40 percent of them are under the age of 15.  That makes polio immunisation a big challenge.  Kano had just begun a campaign to immunise more than 6 million children under the age of five.
  Part of the challenge is overcoming fear and suspicion.  In Kano in the past, false rumors linked immunisation to sterility and HIV.  Community leaders told me that because polio vaccine is free and brought to people in their homes, some people think there must be something wrong with it.

Community leaders play a critically important role in helping to overcome mistrust, and a big focus of anti-polio efforts is on informing these leaders and enlisting their support.  Another ironic thing I noticed was that because polio cases have been dramatically reduced, it’s more difficult to know whether local immunisation campaigns are reaching everyone they need to reach, particularly sub-populations that may be more at risk.  Without many actual cases, you have to rely on other ways of monitoring immunisation rates, and the different measures are sometimes quite inconsistent.  I think we need to look at how to help get more reliable data to guide our efforts and ensure they’re effective.

Also of concern is the risk that progress against polio in Kano might be undermined by the virus filtering back in from neighbouring countries and other parts of northern Nigeria.  Increasingly, the problem needs to be approached on a regional basis.  The school we visited was very interesting.  It didn’t really look like a school.  There were no classrooms, just children sitting on the street, against a wall or under a tree, holding slates with Arabic script written on them.  I asked one of the boys to recite the lesson from his slate, and he did.
  That night in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, I had dinner with government officials including the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu.

It was interesting to learn about some of the creative approaches being used to inform Nigerians about the importance of immunisation.  Pro-immunisation messages are being embedded in the plot-lines of popular TV entertainment programs, for example.  One of Nigeria’s largest mobile phone service providers has agreed to send out about 25 million free text messages on polio and health.  The next day I had a number of meetings including a session with several state governors and one with Nigeria’s new President, Goodluck Jonathan.

Commitment from Nigeria’s leaders has been crucial in advancing the nation’s fight against polio.  

A recurring theme I picked up from the people I talked to was the importance of using what we’ve learned and accomplished in the drive against polio to fight other illnesses such as infant diarrhoea, respiratory ailments and malaria.  I do believe that polio eradication helps strengthen routine immunisation, which has the potential to save the lives of large numbers of children.  Wherever I go, I always find that saving children’s lives is a universal concern.

I was very impressed with Nigeria’s progress against polio.  I tried to encourage everyone to not let up.

Bill Gates – from http://www.thegatesnotes.com