| Eradication of Polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan |
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Dear Rotarians, Read the Dream of District Governor Rtn:Muhammad Faiz Kidwai District 3270 Pakistan &Afganistan about the Polio Eradication. Polio Eradication - The Future is in your hands. Last night I had a dream. I dreamt it was July 1, 2005. I had just retired as the RI President. And the next morning I died. I was sorry to leave the World and my loved ones, but I confidently strode towards the Pearly Gates - the Gateway to Heaven. As I neared the Gates, my steps faltered. There were a lot of people standing outside the Gates. It looked like a mob. “A mob? In Heaven?” I was scared. Did they mean to stop me from entering? And why? “You can’t enter here” shouted a young girl with a limp. “Heaven is not the place for Liars” said the old man. “Go back Rotarian” shouted the young mother. I looked around bewildered. Amongst the crowd, I saw a child who had died last night of hunger; There was a woman whose baby had died of malaria last week. There was a homeless man who had literally frozen to death last winter. I said “Food, Health Camps, Clothing, Shelter, Malaria, T.B., AIDS, Education.... don’t the efforts of Rotary in all these areas count for anything? How could we mortgage all these in the pawnshop of Mankind as collateral for a loan to eradicate Polio? Isn’t that what you are saying: that Rotary did not eradicate Polio from the world? That Rotary failed?” When I was on Earth people said ‘1 million people die of Malaria each year... most of them children less than 5 years old. But you Rotarians will not allow them to die until they have taken those 2 drops of Polio Vaccine.’ “We have done a lot”, I continued. “We have almost worked a miracle. For 80 years, from 1905 to the mid-1980s, Rotary lived by the credo of Service Above Self. Rotarians built toilets, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless. Rotarians all over the world brought medicine to the sick, propagated ethics, promoted world peace, but..... but the local Rotary club was still called the “Roti” Club.” Then, towards the end of the 1980s, came PolioPlus. Suddenly the man in the street discovered what Rotary was. The woman in the slums began to recognize the Rotary Wheel. Respectability, credibility, esteem came in the wake of PolioPlus. The reason why Polio has still not been eradicated from the world is... Pakistan. Unfortunately, Rotarians have not done their best there. But even there, according to Dr. Bruce Aylward- the WHO head of the Polio Initiative worldwide - Pakistan has made great progress; * There are 4 indicators of progress: The number of Cases The geographic distribution of Cases The length of the Low Transmission Season The bio-diversity of the Virus There has been dramatic progress in all 4 ways. At one time Pakistan used to have more than 200 cases a day. In 2001 there were less than 200 in the whole year. True, the number was 3 more than in 2000. The reason? Many children had not been reached. Reported levels of immunization were very high. But the truth was different. There was dramatic improvement in the geographic distribution of cases. There were more cases in Four Provinces with Polio in 2000. In 2001 there were less cases. The bio-diversity of the virus has reduced dramatically. Today there are only 3 chains of transmission in the country-in Sind,in Baluchistan,and in Sarad. The closer you get to eradication, the slower is the progress and more people start questioning the strategy employed. The strategy is very good. It has worked in 216 countries. This is a war. In a war you: a) secure captured territories. b) try to capture new territories. ‘What have been less in Pakistan ,the Gains in India?’ you may ask. The gains are: The last case of Polio Type II was detected in India (October, 1999 in UP). With only 3 lineages or chains of transmission, the epidemiology of the Virus changed a great deal. But the mob outside the Gates of Heaven was not satisfied with all these figures. They said “There are 3 types of lies... Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics.” And then, one after the other, they started berating me. Clinically, objectively, remorselessly. “You talk of Chains of Transmission, but my child still got Polio in Khairpur Sind”, said the young mother. “You brought the number of cases down”, said a young boy. “How does that help my brother? He was hoping to play Cricket for Pakistan. And then he got Polio.” Suddenly Paul Harris himself stood in front of me. He said; “100 years of glorious service. Public conveniences in Chicago, Crusades against Cancer, Drug Abuse, Illiteracy, War, Child abuse. Every thing has gone down the drain. All that people remember is that Rotary failed in Polio Eradication.” I clamped my hands over my ears, and mercifully - woke up. I woke up from my sleep and thought, “what was it that I had experienced - was it a premonition? Or were they pangs of a guilty conscience? Or were they actual spirits-ghosts of people Rotary had failed?” My friends, the future of Rotary is in your hands. History will judge a Century of Rotary Service based on what the Class of 2005-06 in Pakistan District 3270 does for Polio Eradication. SERVICE Above Self Rtn:Dr Muhammad Ayub Deputy District Governor 2005-2006 National Co ordinator ''Gift of Life'' Pakistan District 3270 Pakistan &Afganistan Address:A G DRUG AGENCY MARKET ROAD NAWABSHAH SIND PAKISTAN TEL Fax::92-241-62600, Res:92-241-62699,Off:92-241-72800 Mobile (cell)92-320-5865089 30 March 2006 |
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Dear Rotarians
An interview with the Polio VIRUS by Rtn:Dr Ali Akhtar District Governor District 3270. Rtn. Dr Ali Akhtar District Governor District 3270 Pakistan and Afganistan, had the opportunity to interview the polio virus in a dramatic encounter. This will surely be the wake-up call for the Rotarians of the Pakistan sub-continent to mount the final assault. Dear friends, I ask you to let your imagination soar for a moment. Think of this column as a column in the Sunday Section of a Newspaper. I bring to you today a special interview - an interview with someone who has never featured in a newspaper… the Poliovirus. Dr Ali Akhtar: Mr. Poliovirus, 18 years ago you were quoted as saying "the Sun never sets on the Polio Empire". You held sway over the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia. Today your Empire has shrunk. You have been ousted from the Americas and Europe. WHO experts say that you have only a tenuous hold over small parts of Africa and South Asia. What are your views - is your Empire on the verge of extinction? Poliovirus: Yes, we have suffered reverses. In our glory years - right up to the mid-80s our Empire shone in all its splendour. My armies occupied almost every lake, every river, every civil water supply. My soldiers attacked and maimed thousands of human children every year. Iron lungs, crutches, wailing infants, distraught parents were every where. Dr Ali Akhtar: But then what happened? Poliovirus: Then these accursed humans made the OPV - Oral Polio Vaccine - their secret weapon, the equivalent of the nuclear bomb. Dr Ali Akhtar: You mean the OPV was enough to stop your mighty hordes? Poliovirus: No, no, no. By itself, the OPV could not have stopped us. It was a global conspiracy that hurt us. Rotary International, WHO, UNICEF, CDC held a secret conclave to plot my downfall. Even then, it might not have been enough. But they started mobilizing the support of National Governments all over the world. Alas, my armies are left in only a few countries now. Dr Ali Akhtar: 7 to be precise. Poliovirus: Yes. But, we are fighting back bravely. The humans think the battle is almost over. Ha! They thought they had almost won in 2001! . Only a few human kids were affected. Onlya few Pakistani kids contracted Polio. But just see what my armies have managed in a few months. In 2002, 1,918 human kids were stricken - 1,600 of them in India alone. Today many human kids have already fallen prey to my marauding armies. India, Nigeria and Pakistan account for over 95% of them. Dr Ali Akhtar: How did you manage this? Poliovirus: Through a change in tactics. I altered my master plan. We adopted guerilla tactics. We became terrorists. Our forces hid in small fortresses in Sind and Baluchistan in Pakistan. And quietly awaited our chance. The Pakistan Health set-up provided us with the opportunity in the Province of Sind. Lulled into complacency by our inactivity, they imagined that they had won. They claimed that they had immunized 93% of children against Polio. Actually only 70% had received the drops. Dr Ali Akhtar: Were they lying? Poliovirus: Perhaps not. You have heard of the old saying: There are 3 types of lies-lies, ! damned lies and Statistics. They forgot that almost 1 million children are born in sub continent every month. They also forget that their Routine Immunization levels are pathetic - just over 20% in States like Sind. So a cohort of un-immunized children built up pretty quickly. Dr Ali Akhtar: So what? Is that enough to spread Polio? Was it not already too late for you armies? Poliovirus: Oh yeah? Keep thinking along those lines, and I'll sweep all over the world. You've made the same mistakes with Hitler, with Osama, with any conqueror. Dr Ali Akhtar: What mistakes? Poliovirus: Sweeping every thing under the carpet. We established ourselves in Sind and Baluchistan and then spread insidiously into Punjab and from there to Peshawar. Suddenly, we were winning in Sind. We notched up more cases in Sind in Pakistan in 2002. Once we had established ourselves in Sind, we began raiding the neighbouring Provinces. Today, we have established bases in all the provinces neighbouring Sind. But…. Dr Ali Akhtar: But what? If your campaign in Sind is going the way it is, why the but? Poliovirus: But, but, but - life is full of buts. And the biggest but in my life is this accursed Rotary. They are the biggest fighters against my ally, complacency. Dr Ali Akhtar: What did they do? Poliovirus: Rotary started interfering in Sind. Sind was crucial to our plans. Even though we have started making inroads into the Provinces of Punjab, Baluchistan - even though my Armies are doing a magnificent job in Peshwar near to Afghan Refugees Camp, my troops are suffering in Afganistan. Dr Ali Akhtar: How did Rotary interfere in Sind? What did Rotarians do? Poliovirus: Rotary began breaking the rules. They hit us below the belt. They started politicking - I mean outside of Rotary. We all know there is Politics in Rotary. But they brought Rotary into the midst of Politicians and Bureaucrats. They ran from Chief Minister to Chief Minister - from Karachi to Peshawar, They went to the Central Govt., they knocked on the doors of Political Parties, helped promote the "Polio-Killer Parliamentarians" forum. They invented new strategies of warfare. What the entry of the US was to World War-II, the entry of Rotary is to the war against Polio. Dr Ali Akhtar: What did rotary ask the Politicians and Bureaucrats to do? Poliovirus: They egged on Chief Ministers to periodically review Polio eradication activities, ensured that District Task Forces were activated, asked Senior Bureaucrats to appoint monitors to oversee the activities of health workers. Dr Ali Akhtar: But is that enough? What about the community? Poliovirus: Oh! These Rotarians don't miss a bet. They started whipping up frenzy amongst the public in Pakistan. They used many powerful bombs and weapons: They have even roped in the Pakistan Air force. They used their helicopters to bombard the interiors of Sind with propaganda against my armies. And then they engaged people from the Polio-endemic areas to go from house to house urging people to fight my men. Dr Ali Akhtar: But how many Rotarians are there in Pakistan? How can such few people hope to make a dent on such a huge army as yours? Poliovirus: There may be just 2000 (two thousand Rotarians in Pakistan, but they rush from Booth to Booth on NIDs- replenishing vaccine, giving blocks of ice, distributing whistles and balloons. They are my worst enemies. Dr Ali Akhtar: So what is the prognosis? Where do you go from here? Are you saying that the Pakistanis will manage to beat you? That victory is close for them? Poliovirus: No way! We don't give up that easily. We still have a huge army out there. We may have suffered reverses in Sind recently, but we still have a serious presence there. In Peshawar and Baluchistan, we are trying to consolidate our gains. You can bet your last dollar that we are fighting back with all our might. The war is not over yet. Today, Pakistan stands at a T-junction. One way goes towards oblivion. It is called the Smallpox Avenue. The other is called the Malaria Avenue. That one comes all the way back from where it started. Dr Ali Akhtar: Do you mean to say that you hope to make a comeback… like Malaria? Poliovirus: My friends the mosquitoes pulled Malaria back from the brink of extinction. We too can do it. Many Pakistanis still live in filth and squalor, their water is still dirty, religious rabble-rousers still fool them into thinking that OPV will make their children impotent. We are just waiting for them to become complacent again - to lower their guard once again. Then we will pounce! SARS has shown that there are no boundaries. If we get Pakistan, we'll soon sweep through the rest of the world. The only thing that can stop us winning are those drops. If we can stop those drops from reaching ! the mouths of children in Pakistan, we will win. Hope springs eternal in the Virus breast. If some children do not get immunized If those powerful rumours keep floating If Rotarians cool their ardour just a bit I will again become a globe-trotter - I'll fly Business Class to Africa and First Class to London, Sydney, Rio and New York. Once again, all of you will bow your heads in supplication, as my hordes say "Heil Polio!" That was the Poliovirus. He still has the confidence of yester-years. He still has the power to wreak havoc - with the limbs of small children, with the lives of hundreds of families. This Class - the class of 2003-04- has the opportunity of a life-time. We can finish off Polio this year, or you can go down in Rotary history as the Class which failed to redeem Rotary's Centennial pledge. SERVICE Above Self Rtn:Dr Muhammad Ayub Deputy District Governor 2005-2006 National Co ordinator ''Gift of Life'' Pakistan District 3270 Pakistan &Afganistan Address:A G DRUG AGENCY MARKET ROAD NAWABSHAH SIND PAKISTAN TEL Fax::92-241-62600, Res:92-241-62699,Off:92-241-72800 Mobile (cell)92-320-5865089 30 March 2006 |