A dozen Kaua‘i residents are having experiences of their lifetimes, volunteering to travel to India to help immunize children against polio. The Kauaians are there now as part of Rotary International’s PolioPlus program, an ambitious, 19-year campaign to rid the
A dozen Kaua‘i residents are having experiences of their lifetimes, volunteering to travel to India to help immunize children against polio.
The Kauaians are there now as part of Rotary International’s PolioPlus program, an ambitious, 19-year campaign to rid the entire planet of polio.
Since the drive began in 1985, all but seven countries in the world have become certified as polio-free, and of those seven, India has the highest incidence of polio.
Kaua‘i Rotarians and some of their spouses are joined in India by 10 O‘ahu residents and tens of thousands of Indian Rotarians, health workers and others, helping to administer oral polio vaccines.
Just a couple drops of the liquid on a child’s tongue will prevent the disease’s devastating effects — paralysis and sometimes death.
During India’s National Immunization Days in February last year, 165 million children were immunized.
Kauaians in India include Neva Olson, Marty Kahn and Pam Brown of the Rotary Club of Kapaa; Kahn’s wife Carole Kahn; Valerie Parker, president of the West Kauai Rotary Club; Al and Patty Ficker and Margee Faunce of the Rotary Club of Poipu Beach; Don and Susan Wilson; and Bruce and Mary Baxter.
In what was the first and has become the largest internationally coordinated, private-sector support of a public-health initiative, the PolioPlus program has partnered Rotary International members with those from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rotarians worldwide have contributed more than $500 million to the effort.
Program coordinators believe that by 2005 polio will be defeated globally.
Widespread use of the polio vaccination in the United States began in 1952.
Kaua‘i residents traveled to India on their own volition. Rotary leaders do not provide funds for members to participate in such charitable projects.
For Marty Kahn, owner of Kahn Galleries and a longtime member of the Kapaa Rotary Club, it’s well worth the time and expense.
“PolioPlus is the most amazing project that I’ve ever witnessed or been privileged to be part of,” he said. Kahn, who met up with his wife Carole Kahn who was already traveling in India, before he left Kaua‘i earlier this month was looking forward to meeting Rotarians and others of like minds.
“It’s comforting (to know) that there are people around the world who have the same goals, dreams, aspirations and desires in their community as we do here in our home,” Kahn said.
“Saving children from that dreaded disease regardless of religious affiliation or cultural background is a joy that can’t be spoken or measured.”
India has long been a “moving target” in the quest to eliminate polio, said Hanalei resident Gary Siracusa, district governor for all of Rotary in Hawai‘i.
“Two years ago in one day during a National Immunization Day, we immunized 100 million kids, and you’re not making a dent in the population.”
Rapid reproduction rates, logistics of hundreds of thousands of people living in boats on rivers, and religious differences in developing nations make the remaining work challenging, Siracusa said.
It’s also a logistical challenge of the highest order to get the word out to residents in rural areas that a life-saving elixir is available at no cost, he said.
Roads to some villages are in poor repair or completely impassable. People in such villages don’t have television or radios. Among illiterate people, rumors run rampant that the oral vaccine will cause sterilization, said Siracusa.
Out of fear, well-meaning parents withhold their children from the free clinics staffed by health workers and Rotarian volunteers.
Despite the challenges, for Kahn making a difference is what it’s all about. “I’m looking forward to being able to do the good that I went there to do, and feel the excitement and energy of being in a new place,” he said before leaving.
Rotary International is a worldwide network of 1.2 million business and professional leaders belonging to 31,000 clubs in 166 counties, providing humanitarian service in their home communities and in locations around the world.
There are six Rotary clubs on Kaua‘i.
Pamela V. Brown is a freelance writer, Kapa‘a resident, and current president of the Rotary Club of Kapaa.
