Rotary holds walk to raise awareness on polio

Rotary in Kenya on Saturday held several activities to raise awareness on polio and Rotary’s activities in Kenya. The walk was flagged off by Governor Evans Kidero at the University of Nairobi’s graduation square. 
 

In addition, Rotary also set up photo booths in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the Largest Photo Awareness Campaign. This involved hundreds of people visiting photo booths set up at the venue and they had their photos taken while showing the Rotary “This Close” sign. The signature Rotary “This Close” sign is flashed with the thumb and forefinger.

Rotary District 9212 Governor Rotarian Bimal Kantaria and Catherine Kamande show the 'This Close' campaign sign at Univerisity of Nairobi grounds during the walk. The campaign is expected to raise awareness about polio eradication in the country.

“To support the efforts by government, Rotary in Kenya today had a Polio Day whereby we had activities in Nairobi, Kisumu, Embu, Naivasha, Kerugoya, Nakuru, Malindi and Mombasa to remind people on why it is important to work together to eliminate polio in this region,” said Rotary District 9212 current District Governor, Bimal Kantaria, during the walk. 

There were prayers by the Catholic and Baptist Churches, Muslim and Hindu leaders as well as a speech by the World Health Organisation during the event. 

The walk was held as part of the “This Close” Campaign to ending polio in Kenya. The campaign kicked off two months ago to energize the ongoing efforts by the Government to ensure all children in Kenya are immunized. 

Rotary International started the “This Close” campaign where celebrities and other public figures are invited to participate in taking portrait photos to raise awareness on polio. Through the campaign, Rotary emphasizes that the world is 99 percent towards its goal of eradicating the crippling disease. The campaign also encourages the public to support the effort to eradicate the final 1 percent. The campaign’s tagline is: "We’re This Close to Ending Polio."

Key public figures who have participated in the campaign include Bill Gates, Arch Bishop  Desmond Tutu, actor Jackie Chan, boxer Manny Pacquiao, Korean musician Psys, among others. First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, His Eminence John Cardinal Njue , local musician Eric Wainaina, Smriti Virdyarthi and Jeff Koinange have also taken photos taking the “This Close” pledge.  Photos from the campaign are being collected to make the world’s biggest ad and can be seen on the campaign website This Close to End Polio. As part of the campaign, Rotary has conducted a social media campaign to raise awareness on the issue on the importance of encouraging households to immunize their children. 

Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985 and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since the initiative launched in 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 369 confirmed so far for 2013. Rotary’s main responsibilities within the initiative are fundraising, advocacy, and social mobilization. To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio. Through 2018, every new dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year.

Polio in Kenya

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by the polio virus. It causes paralysis and even death. Kenya and its neighbors have been considered polio-free for the past several years, until May 2013 when polio cases were first reported in Somalia, then in Kenya, and lately in Ethiopia. There were a total of 218 cases in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia reported by March 2014.Within six months, an aggressive vaccination campaign resulted in a significant decrease in the number of new cases.

To contain the outbreak in Kenya, immunization campaigns have been conducted around the country. Efforts have been intensified across the country– everyone here, child or adult, is set to be vaccinated. The driving concern is that there could be those who have not been vaccinated, which can compromise the immunity of the entire population.