{"id":1316035,"date":"2019-10-23T23:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T05:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/stroud-column-still-just-this-close-to-eradicating-polio-worldwide\/"},"modified":"2019-10-23T23:16:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T05:16:00","slug":"stroud-column-still-just-this-close-to-eradicating-polio-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/stroud-column-still-just-this-close-to-eradicating-polio-worldwide\/","title":{"rendered":"Stroud column: Still just \u2018this close\u2019 to eradicating polio worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today, Oct. 24, is World Polio Day. It\u2019s a day that strikes a personal chord for me and for Rotarians around the world \u2014 and especially for anyone who\u2019s been impacted personally by polio.<\/p>\n

For 30 years, Rotary International has been on the leading edge in the effort to eradicate polio, as a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.<\/p>\n

Through Rotary\u2019s Polio Plus campaign, Rotary clubs around the world \u2014 including those in Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Carbondale and Aspen \u2014 have combined forces to contribute more than $1.9 billion toward ridding the world of this terrible, crippling disease.<\/p>\n

Not only does that money go toward providing the vaccinations, it helps to put boots on the ground as Rotarians work in the field to make sure children are inoculated and protected.<\/p>\n

Currently, for every dollar now donated to the effort, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will double that amount up to a $50 million match.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s huge, and it\u2019s a big reason why we\u2019re \u201cthis close,\u201d as Rotarians and polio eradication advocates around the world are fond of reminding each other by flashing a hand gesture with a small gap between an extended thumb and index finger.<\/p>\n

But that gap hasn\u2019t been shrinking as much lately as we would like.<\/p>\n

According to the latest reports, there were three new cases of wild poliovirus in Pakistan in the past month. For the year, there have so far been 72 cases reported in Pakistan and 16 in Afghanistan. Those countries, in particular, pose some serious obstacles because of politics, prejudice and social resistance to vaccinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is disheartening to go backward, remember that as recently as 2014, Pakistan had over 300 cases a year,\u201d notes Ken Howell, our Rotary region\u2019s End Polio Now coordinator. \u201cOur progress may not prove to be as linear as we\u2019d like, but we are making significant progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August alone, Pakistan immunized 8.3 million children, with over 260,000 frontline workers, according to Ken\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more cause for celebration this World Polio Day. The Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication is prepared to announce the eradication of the Type 3 polio virus.<\/p>\n

Type 2 polio has already been declared eradicated, so we\u2019re down to just Type 1.<\/p>\n

For the record, polio virus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in hours. It can strike people of any age, but mainly affects children younger than age 5. Polio is not curable but, unlike most diseases, it can be eradicated.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s where it gets a little more personal for me, and local as it relates to our own communities here in the Roaring Fork Valley and Garfield County.<\/p>\n

I was disheartened when we reported last spring<\/a> that childhood vaccination rates among school children are disturbingly low in some sectors of our local community.<\/p>\n

Overall, area schools report an immunization rate of between 93 and 96 percent for measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), polio and diphtheria, which is good but not great. The opt-out rate for some families is cause for concern \u2014 especially when I see polio in the mix.<\/p>\n

Please, I ask any of you who have doubts to learn more at rotary.org<\/a>, and consider the consequences if we take too many steps backward, especially in a country where we\u2019ve not known polio for decades.<\/p>\n

By not vaccinating your children, you\u2019re not only exposing them to the risk of contracting polio and other diseases, you\u2019re denying that future adult the opportunity to be a Rotarian out in the field fighting polio because they\u2019re not protected.<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n

John Stroud is senior reporter and managing editor for the Post Independent, and the 2019-20 president for the Rotary Club of Carbondale.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Oct. 24, is World Polio Day. It\u2019s a day that strikes a personal chord for me and for Rotarians around the world \u2014 and especially for anyone who\u2019s been impacted personally by polio. For 30 years, Rotary International has been on the leading edge in the effort to eradicate polio, as a founding partner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1316035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-03 20:24:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}