Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialised countries, paralysing hundreds of thousands of children every year. For many Australians, polio may seem like just another disease that has been non-existent for years. However, those born before 1955 remember having a great fear of this horrible disease, which crippled thousands of once active, healthy children. It was a disease that had no cure or identifiable causes and it could not be contained, making it all the more terrifying. Although other diseases of the era had much higher mortality rates, none had the permanent ramifications that polio did. Everyone was affected when there was epidemic outbreak. People lived in constant fear that they would be next to catch the disease or, worse, one of their children would contract polio. The lives of polio victims and those who cared for them were changed forever by the impairments that victims of polio suffered. It was not until the development and distribution of the vaccine against polio that people could have a secure sense of hope that they would not fall victim to this paralysing disease.

In 1954, the first vaccinations against polio, developed by Jonas Salk, were given to children in the United States. Following the development of an oral polio vaccine in 1956 by Albert Sabin, polio was finally brought under control and practically eliminated as a health problem in most industrialised nations. However, it took somewhat longer for polio to be recognised as a major problem in developing countries. It wasn't until the 1970s that routine immunisation was introduced worldwide as part of national immunisation programs, helping to control the disease in many developing nations.

However, tackling these polio cases was, and remains, rather difficult. Conflict, political instability, hard-to-reach populations and poor infrastructure pose significant challenges to eradicating the disease, as is the too often cultural mistrust over immunisation programs. To get the job done requires delivering the vaccine to the door of every household, explaining to parents the importance of protecting their children from polio and preparing communities to welcome the vaccination campaigns. It requires mobilising and training millions of volunteers and it requires funding. Since its inception, the drive to eradicate polio has been an expression of the power of public health partnerships to do great and lasting good.

In polio circles, one organisation remains famous for its steadfast commitment and its hard-nosed determination to eradicate polio across the world—of course, I speak of Rotary. Rotary International is the top private sector contributor and volunteer arm of the eradication initiative. Polio eradication has remained Rotary's highest interest project for over 20 years. Rotary's PolioPlus program has been described as the finest humanitarian project by a non-government organisation the world has ever known, and has seen Rotary nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts. Thanks to Rotary's advocacy efforts, donor governments, including Australia, have contributed more than $7.2 billion to the global eradication of polio.

Rotarians have matched dollar for dollar the $100 million US commitment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to eradicate polio. Rotarians have mobilised and trained millions of volunteers, giving public health a new model of service delivery. In their determination to rid the world of polio, Rotarians have not only opened doors at the highest political levels, but most importantly opened the doors of homes at the grassroots level, because this is where the important matter of trust counts the most. When concerned parents want to know if a vaccine is safe, if it is really needed for a child, they trust the answers Rotarians offer them. From the very beginning, Rotarians have contributed practical, on-the-ground experience as proof that striving for a vision is feasible.

In 1978 Rotary set up a committee to design a program for Rotary International to undertake projects far greater than any club or district could do alone. Of the 16 projects proposed from around the world, one proposal from the Philippines stood out—that, if Rotary could provide the vaccine, they would mobilise all of the Rotarians in the entire Philippines and immunise all Filipino children. This led to some six million children being immunised against polio.

In 1982 the board of Rotary International approved the idea of giving polio vaccinations to all children across the globe. The project was called Polio 2005. In 1985 Rotary set a fundraising goal of $120,000 and changed the name of the project to PolioPlus. It was the first major fundraising campaign by Rotarians of the world for a single project.

However, by 1987 Rotary had surpassed the goal of raising over $240 million, leading to Rotary leaders going to the World Health Organization and saying to them that they wanted to join in their task of eradicating polio. As Cliff Dochterman, a former president of Rotary International from 1992 to 1993, who was at the meeting with the World Health Organization, said:

It was not well accepted by all the WHO leaders who represented some of the most knowledgeable health authorities in the world. Rotary was "just a service club." Finally, when Rotary told them that we had over a million volunteers and $247 million in our pocket, they said, "Come on in." So we became full partners of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the US Centers for Disease Control.

At that time, in 1988, you could find polio in 125 nations of the world and it was estimated that there were 350,000 cases of polio in the world every year. But we took on the project – one country at a time. Our first big immunization day was in Mexico, where we immunized 13 million children. Then we went to Central America and South America. One nation after another became "polio free."

Since the launch of Rotary International's PolioPlus program in 1985, Rotary has contributed more than $1.7 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunise more than 2.5 billion children across 122 countries. Thanks to the success of this program, there are now just three polio epidemic countries with 37 polio cases worldwide, which is a reduction of more than 99.9 per cent since 1988, when there were over 350,000 polio cases. Thanks to the steadfast commitment of over 1.2 million Rotarians across the world, the world may soon be rid of this ancient disease, which has destroyed so many childhoods and broken so many hearts.