NORMAN — The window of time to eradicate polio worldwide may shut if it doesn’t happen within the next few years, the president of Rotary International said in Norman Friday.
The international humanitarian service organization has pledged to rid the world of the crippling childhood disease. A challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has helped fund worldwide immunization efforts. The World Health Organization, a Rotary partner, believes the disease may be eliminated in 2011 or 2012.
“We’ve just got to do it,” Ray Klinginsmith said in a Transcript interview Friday afternoon. “If we don’t, we may lose the support of the countries around the world and the window will close.”
Polio worldwide has been isolated to four countries — Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the highest number of cases in India. Fewer than 1,000 cases remain. An initiative next week on Rotary’s 106th birthday will project the words “End Polio Now” onto Italy’s Trevi Fountain, India’s Charminar monument, the United Nations and the New York Stock Exchange as well as other iconic landmarks worldwide.
Klinginsmith, of Kirksville, Mo., was in Norman to attend a bi-district banquet Friday evening at the Embassy Suites Hotel. He joined more than 400 central Oklahoma Rotarians and guests at the event which honored donors and others. He had lunch earlier in the day with Oklahoma Rotary officers. His host was former OU Foundation director Ron Burton, a past director of Rotary International and past trustee of the Rotary Foundation. Burton chairs this year’s international convention in New Orleans.
Klinginsmith, a retired attorney, college administrator and professor, travels frequently as head of the 1.2 million member organization based in Evanston, Ill. There are more than 34,000 Rotary clubs worldwide. Norman has three Rotary Clubs.
Membership, Klinginsmith said has remained stable worldwide with growth in Asian clubs and those in Eastern Europe. U.S. membership has dipped slightly.
He said Rotary is trying to better connect with members through social media, with an increased emphasis on Facebook and improved websites. Additionally, the amount of money available to clubs for public relations grants has been increased to $4 million this year.
Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $1 billion and countless volunteer hours to the polio eradication effort, and have recently pledged to raise an additional $200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All of the resulting $555 million will be spent in support of eradication activities.
The incidence of polio infection has plunged from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to 968 cases in 2010. Four new cases were reported in the past week bringing to 9 the number of new cases in 2011. More than two billion children have been immunized in 122 countries, preventing five million cases of paralysis and 250,000 pediatric deaths.
Klinginsmth said Rotary has been successful in getting cease fires declared in warring countries in order to facilitate immunization drives.
“The Taliban are supporters of our immunization campaigns,” he said.
