'Good work': Columbia’s Rotary works to eradicate polio all year long

Maury County local and state leaders gathered under a pavilion during an autumn afternoon to recognizing World Polio Day in cooperation with Columbia’s Rotarians in recognition of the global event.

Hosted by Rotary International on Oct. 24, World Polio Day is a global event where experts and partners share progress in the effort to eradicate the illness.

The day was established to raise awareness for the polio vaccination.

The event was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.

In recognition of the Maury County’s Noon and Breakfast Rotaries continue to contribute to the international effort to eradicate the disease, Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles and Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder presented proclamations to the group alongside Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Columbia, Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, and Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald.

It is a relentless fundraising initiative that never ends for the two clubs and their local members. The two local clubs have raised thousands of dollars toward the effort to eradicate the disease each year.

"We have almost rid the entire world of polio, and we just keep working at it," said Eric Previti, a Maury County Commissioner and a member of the Rotary Club. Eliminating polio has been the international organization’s mission since 1985.

"Rotary leads the way with the help of a lot of organizations helping," Previti said. "It is our duty to rid the world of disease. This is a piece of gratitude and satisfaction that we got to be a part of, and every Rotarian feels that way. Just a generation ago, we had it here in the United States. People don't remember iron lungs and the horrible disease that it is."

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“We are honoring the good work that the club has done not just in the community, but internationally,” Molder said. “I think it is important that we pause and recognize that.

"Mayor Ogles and I are proud to do that.”

Ogles described the club and its members as a valuable part of the community.

Poliovirus type 1 was eradicated in 2015.

The final strains of the virus of the poliovirus type 1 now remain in two nations across the globe — Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It is hard to get to them, but we are very proud of the work we do here and the impact that it has on people across the globe," Previti said.

Joining the eradication of smallpox, the end to poliovirus type 3, represents a historic achievement for humanity, the World Health Organization said.

Since 2016, no cases of the virus have been reported on the African continent.

"That is a huge triumph," Previti said.

The last evidence of wild poliovirus type 1 transmission in Nigeria was in September 2018, leaving only two polio-endemic countries, which are Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to data shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To eradicate polio, multiple high-quality immunization campaigns must be carried out each year in those nations that are considered polio-affected and high-risk for the disease.

“The infrastructure we built through polio in terms of how to engage communities, how to work with communities, how to rapidly teach communities to actually deliver health interventions, do disease surveillance, et cetera, has been an extremely important part of the effort to tackle so many other diseases,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the director general at the WHO, in a statement during the 2020 World Polio Day event.

The Rotary has contributed more than $2.1 billion to polio eradication since it launched the PolioPlus program in 1985, and it’s committed to raising $50 million each year for polio eradication activities. Because of a 2-to-1 matching agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that means that, each year, $150 million goes toward fulfilling Rotary’s promise to the children of the world: No child will ever again suffer the devastating effects of polio.

“Polio eradication is truly a collective effort,” said Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus Committee and a member of the Rotary Club of Lekki, during a 2020 event.

“This accomplishment belongs to all of us,” he added.

Community members interested in supporting the local Rotary Clubs in the global effort to end polio can visit http://www.columbianoonrotaryclub.com or https://ctnbreakfastrotary.wixsite.com/mysite.

For additional information on World Polio Day, visit https://www.endpolio.org/.

“Any donation that is made to the local clubs will be matched by the larger organizations,” Previti said.

Reach Mike Christen at mchristen@c-dh.net. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeChristenCDH and on Instagram @michaelmarco. Please consider supporting his work and that of other Daily Herald journalists by subscribing to the publication.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Columbia’s Rotary works to eradicate polio all year long