Rotary and the Gates Foundation host fifth annual World Polio Day to highlight progress in the fight to eradicate the disease

Rotary and the Gates Foundation host fifth annual World Polio Day to highlight progress in the fight to eradicate the disease

By Ryan Hyland Photos by Alyce Henson

After another year of dwindling polio cases, Rotary leaders, top health experts, and celebrities said on 24 October — World Polio Day — that the paralyzing disease has never been closer to being eradicated globally.

A special livestreamed presentation — End Polio Now: Countdown to History — featured the people who work tirelessly to end the disease and reviewed the progress that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has made.

Co-hosted by Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the 45-minute program took place before a live audience at the Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA, and was streamed online to viewers worldwide. Mark Wright, news host for the local NBC television station and president of the Rotary Club of Seattle, and CNN news host Fredricka Whitfield led the event.

Wright updated the audience on the latest figures of polio cases saying that the total number of cases caused by the wild poliovirus so far this year is 12, with seven cases in Afghanistan and five in Pakistan. This is a 70 percent reduction from 2016 and is the lowest count of polio cases in history.

“The scale of the effort is staggering,” he said. “Every year 2.2 billion vaccine doses are delivered to 430 million children, through a sophisticated vaccine supply and logistics network.”

Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the Gates Foundation’s chief executive officer, began the event by praising Rotary members and front-line health workers for their dedication to ending the disease.

Desmond-Hellman said, “Nothing would be possible without the efforts of thousands of volunteers across the world who, sometimes in perilous situations, deliver and adminster polio vaccines to protect children. That’s worth celebrating.”

She added, “Those unsung heroes are also in the company of Rotarians. Everywhere around the world, Rotarians show us, with their quiet but inspiring determination, how you can make it possible for 16 million children to be alive and walking.”

View Slideshow
Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the Gates Foundation’s chief executive officer, praised Rotary members for their dedication to eradicating polio.

At the Rotary Convention earlier this year, the Gates Foundation and Rotary renewed their long-standing support for ending polio: Rotary committed to raising $50 million per year over the next three years, with every dollar to be matched by two dollars from the Gates Foundation. The agreement will yield to up to $450 million for eradication efforts.

Rotary has spent more than $1.7 billion on polio eradication since 1985. Earlier this month, Rotary gave $49.5 million in grants to support immunizations and surveillance activities led by the GPEI.

Rotary Vice President Dean Rohrs took the stage to highlight some Rotary members who are raising funds for polio eradication in creative ways. One example was the Rotary Club of Viljoenskroon, South Africa, which is putting End Polio Now piggy banks in local businesses. Members of the Rotaract Club of Curitiba Oeste, Paraná, Brazil, put on a rock concert and donated all ticket sales to End Polio Now.

Rohrs said that Rotarians are holding more than 2,700 events like these worldwide for World Polio Day.

“History is a tricky thing, and for many reasons, we latch onto the same narratives, the same household names over and over again,” Rohrs said. “However, beneath the surface lies complexity, and the unsung heroes — and the heroes that I know best are my fellow Rotary members.”

She added that members “bridge different cultures to reach every community. We persuade parents that two drops of vaccine are critical to each child’s health. We participate in national immunization days on a huge scale, like in Pakistan where we have protected more than 40 million children under the age of 5. And we also spread awareness and raise funds for the cause.”

Dan Kopf, economics reporter for the news website Quartz, talked about the economic impact that eradicating polio could have. He noted that it’s much less expensive to prevent diseases than it is to treat them.

Immunizations are estimated to save low- and middle-income countries $20 billion each year, he said.

According to Kopf, the benefits of polio eradication spending will outweigh the costs by nearly $50 billion between 1985 and 2035. And in that time, 8 million lives will have been saved.

In a question-and-answer session, Jeffery Kluger, science editor at Time magazine, and Jay Wenger, an epidemiologist and director of the Gates Foundation’s polio eradication efforts, talked about the latest developments in the polio eradication fight. Wenger noted that strong surveillance and mass vaccination campaigns “have gotten us to a place where we’ve seen fewer areas of circulation of the virus than ever before.”

“The bottom line here is we have to reach every kid with the vaccine. That’s our target,” Wenger said.

Polio partners have agreed that they won’t say the world is polio-free until traces of the virus are no longer detected in the environment, even if cases of polio-related paralysis disappear before then.

The event included a showing of the trailer for “Breathe,” a feature film that tells the story of British polio survivor Robin Cavendish, who contracted the disease in Kenya in 1958. Paralyzed from the neck down, Cavendish and his wife, Diana, spent the rest of his life advocating for people with disabilities.

The film’s stars, Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, and its director, Andy Serkis, encouraged the audience by video to keep up the fight to end the disease.

Other celebrities who participated in the event included WWE Superstar John Cena, Nigerian pop star Tiwa Savage, and Paralympian and polio survivor Ade Adepitan.

In his video address to the audience, Adepitan said the day the world is declared polio-free could be “the greatest day of the human race so far.”

Entertainment included a video that featured celebrity adventurer Bear Grylls, who explained the cold chain needed for polio vaccinations. The audience also watched a video that showed how surveillance is playing a crucial role in finding where poliovirus is circulating. The event closed with a video of Rotary members saying what polio eradication means to them.

Claudete Sulzbacher, a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Cruz do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, who has organized more than 1,600 fundraising events, said “We don’t have barriers, we don’t have borders, we can promote peace, and we can change the lives of so many people.”

有關D3460拆區結帳表引發之地區RYE事務

有關D3460拆區結帳表引發之地區RYE事務

———- 轉寄的郵件 ———-
寄件者: Thomas Woods <thomas.woods@rotary.org>
日期: 2017年10月28日 上午4:05
主旨: RE: D3460拆區結帳表-已完成蓋印
收件者: “bv5af73@gmail.com” <bv5af73@gmail.com>
副本: Ting-Fen Hillinger<ting-fen.hillinger@rotary.org>

敬愛的林前總監:

來自艾凡斯敦的問候。因翻譯作業,花了一些時間才回覆您,感謝您的耐心等候。本人在此以青少年交換計畫的上級主管身份,回覆您向我同事Ting-Fen Hillinger所提出之問題。

扶輪政策彙編41.070.6明訂:「扶輪青少年交換計畫活動所需款項應與地區之其他款項分列,且地區青少年計畫委員會主委與一位地區財務委員會委員,或兩者之代理人,皆應為帳戶簽署者。地區青少年計畫委員會應詳擬預算,並提交請總監及地區財務委員會核可。地區青少年計畫委員會及地區財務長應每半年度備妥並發送一份青少年交換計畫財務報表至地區總監。」

我們瞭解,技術上來說,某些地區的青少年交換計畫款項確實涵蓋在地區主要帳戶內,但它應是獨立於其他款項,並且列在獨立項目或不同目的款項之下。若您所屬地區財務委員會認可您所採之策略,我們別無異議,畢竟其與該政策之本意看似相同,亦為旨在提供更高透明度。然而,請特別注意,國際扶輪之政策特別強調,地區青少年交換計畫主委須為帳戶簽署者以便協助處理該計畫之日常運作及開銷。若您所屬地區決定將青少年交換計畫款項保留於地區主要帳戶之下,地區青少年交換計畫主委也應為地區帳戶之簽署者。

有關出國學生費用,則仰賴各地區決定派遣學生所需相關費用。各地區須符合扶輪政策彙編41.070.14準備中所明訂:

出國學生之家長或監護人應提供條列明細之收據,清楚說明如何使用青少年交換計畫之費用。收據副本也應提交至派遣出國學生之扶輪社。

自參加地區青少年交換計畫者所徵費用之餘額,目前雖無明確政策規範,但如前所提,地區青少年交換計畫委員會必須要求學生所屬地區及其家長/監護人公開透明,並詳列學生費用如何使用。
扶輪政策彙編17.030.3(C)對於地區青少年交換計畫委員會及職員之派任建議如下:建議總監「使地區青少年交換計畫主委以三年一任為限。應了解地區青少年交換計畫主委一職需要特別技術性知識及經驗,因此鼓勵多年任期,有時可任超越三年之任期以任命具備適當之訓練繼任者。」
為使委員會發揮效率,「委員會必須有領導者的連續性和妥適的繼任計畫。」也建議總監當選人於指派人選時參考下列因素:

· 候選人必須具備有關扶輪的一般性知識,且對青少年交換計畫有強烈的熱忱,並至少有參與該計畫三年以上的經驗。

· 具備以英語溝通的能力,並可在地區層級以外參加青少年交換計畫會議。

· 與現任地區總監、地區青少年交換計畫主委、地區青少年交換計畫委員、以及總監提名人商討如何強化遴選過程。

· 為確保青少年交換計畫之延續性,應避免在任何時期更換超過33%的委員數。

我們鼓勵各地區對於其青少年交換計畫委員會及職員之遴選設定更多條件限制。扶輪政策彙編亦明訂:「敦促各總監在竭盡所能推動該地區的青少年交換計畫活動的同時,必須保持威信並確保無人藉由該些活動獲取個人財務利益。」地區之資格認證條件必須包括:要求所有志工,包括與青少年有直接接觸或在無監督的情況下接觸的青少年交換計畫職員,皆須提交申請書、接受訪談、提出介紹信並接受犯罪背景調查,以及在學生入住接待家庭之前及之後到府訪察。

希望以上回覆能為您解答問題,若有任何其他問題或關切,請隨時洽詢。

敬安

Tom Woods

……………………………..
Thomas Woods
Senior Supervisor | Youth Exchange, Youth Protection
Tel 1.847.866.3422
thomas.woods@rotary.org
rotary.org

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———轉寄的郵件———

From: BV5AF [mailto:bv5af73@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 03 October, 2017 2:52 PM
To: Ting-Fen Hillinger <ting-fen.hillinger@rotary.org>
Subject: Fwd: D3460拆區結帳表-已完成蓋印

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Ting

中秋節愉快。

有事請教,請先參閱附檔。

附檔是近幾年來,D3460 RYE委員會的帳目。
此帳目內容,在過去數年,只有極少人知道 (或許只有每年的RYE主委)。
以我及數位社員均擔任過 總監為例,也不知道其內容。

該帳目,若非因今年七月D3460 拆分地區成D3461與 D3462,必須分割財產,才因而被發現,被重視。

此帳目附檔,是我索取且力爭才有的,D3460 RYE主委與承辦的幹事 (執行秘書) 還不肯公布。

我要請教的是:
1) 一個地區 二級委員會,竟然擁有此鉅額存款,且還每年累計增加,未知 RI RYE有何對策?
2) 地區RYE主委每年要遴選,其資格建議應加以限制,至少應明訂 須擔任過扶輪社長且應附有身家清白證明文件。
3) 在本地區,每位OB (outbound)學員收費一學年NT$17.萬元,未知RI RYE可有收費標準。
4) 前述附檔的巨額存款,是每年OB / IB (inbound)學員數不同,應繳學費的扣款累計。此項累計扣款每年增加,可有管理辦法可供參考?

很抱歉,增添您許多麻煩,但為地區RYE長久經營與防患未然,仍須向您請教。

謝謝

林伯龍 醫師
M: +886-933467322
D3462 PDG Doctor P-J Lin

———- 轉寄的郵件 ———-
寄件者: BV5AF <bv5af73@gmail.com>
日期: 2017年10月3日 上午9:49
主旨: Fwd: D3460拆區結帳表-已完成蓋印
收件者: R_Scott林昌星 <lb7115@yahoo.com.tw>, DGN_Five童瑞龍 <sltung@ms.sltung.com.tw>, “R.Ortho.Shie謝明憲” <tonyhsieh108@yahoo.com.tw>, 16-17DGo王盈蘋 <3460dg1617@gmail.com>

Dear

附檔為RYE委員會拆區後帳目。

多年來,地區二級委員會,獨立運作,擁有鉅款,卻不曾經過地區大會監督,合適否?

此鉅額存款,因IB OB不等額,每年會累計增加。如何管理與監督,迄無合適辦法 !

現今 愚見:

1-相關帳戶運作管理辦法 提交 D3460 (D3461+D3462)前總監協會 集體公開研議。
2-每年帳目,經地區會計師審核後於地區年會公布,以昭公信並接受地區大會監督。

有何意見,惠請賜下,大家商議。

謝謝。

林伯龍
PDG Doctor P-J Lin
M 0933-467322

———- 轉寄的郵件 ———-
寄件者: RYE D3460 <d3460yep@hotmail.com>
日期: 2017年9月4日 上午11:24
主旨: D3460拆區結帳表-已完成蓋印
收件者: PDG Joy 陳俊雄 <3460dg1617@gmail.com>, PDG Doctor林伯龍-彰化中區社 <bv5af@ms1.hinet.net>, 童瑞龍 DG Five <3461dg1718@gmail.com>, 謝明憲 DG Ortho <3462dg1718@gmail.com>, ryed3461@gmail.com, d3462rye@gmail.com
副本: Bio 林石清 <ling.ms26@msa.hinet.net>, 林子焮 <simmons070@gmail.com>, Amy 王麗娟 <amy1012@ms18.hinet.net>, Consultant 柯俊禎 <we.yong@msa.hinet.net>, Archi 劉柯成 <koliu@ms14.hinet.net>, Maclin 黃進霖 <maclinhuang@gmail.com>, 許正達Carbon <padersonpatrick@hotmail.com>, 陳協銓 <cpachen.tw@gmail.com>, 許進興CPA<kicpas@ms47.hinet.net>

Dear all,

D3460拆區結帳表已完成蓋印,附表請查收,謝謝。

Best regards,

****************************************************
國際扶輪346​0
地區青少年交換委員會
D346​0 Rotary Youth Exchange Committee
電話TEL:+886-4-2223-3460
傳真FAX:+886-4-2226-3460
地址Address:40355台中市西區五權路2-3號8樓812室
Rm. 812, 8F, No. 2-3, Wucyuan Rd.,
West Dist.,Taichung City 40355, Taiwan
*****************************************************

Rotary Global Grant GG1861177: Additional application information needed

Rotary Global Grant GG1861177: Additional application information needed

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Callie Czerkie <Callie.Czerkie@rotary.org>
Date: 2017-10-25 6:01 GMT+08:00
Subject: Rotary Global Grant GG1861177: Additional application information needed
To: hasegawa@admic.co.jp, steven@hartford.com.tw, ortho@rctc.org.tw, bv5af73@gmail.com, paul.d3460@hotmail.com.tw, bv5afg@gmail.com, jillvalentines1@gmail.com, shinbok@ruby.ocn.ne.jp, honbu@kom-medical.co.jp, n-kucho@po.sphere.ne.jp, s-tomy@arumo-gr.co.jp

Dear Rotarians,

Greetings! The Rotary Foundation (TRF) has received your global grant application. I have carefully reviewed your application and I appreciate the time and care you put into completing it. Now that I have an idea of what you have planned, I have some specific questions that will help us determine whether your application is eligible for global grant funding. The Foundation has a lot of experience with a wide variety of projects. For that reason, I will also ask about some best practices that we have seen improve the impact and success of projects like yours. Our goal is to help you secure funding for your project while ensuring that you benefit from what we have seen work well. With that in mind, please provide the following information and/or documents:
+++++
Please provide additional information about project beneficiaries and how they have been selected to participate in this project.

Please provide the ages of all project beneficiaries and explain if they will be enrolled in school in conjunction with this project.

Please provide additional information about the goals of this project. What exactly is being completed.

Please provide a detailed project implementation plan.

Who will be doing the training and how are the qualified to do so? Please complete the attached training chart.

Please provide further information about the role of the cooperating organization in the project.

Please note that Rotarians must be actively involved in project implementation. Please provide additional information about Rotarian involvement.

Please further itemize all budget items.

How was it determined that there was a need for this project within the local community?

Please explain how this project will be supported after all grant funds have been spent.

Please note that long term support by Rotary clubs and/or districts is not an acceptable answer.

+++++
I look forward to your response. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Callie Czerkie
Regional Grants Officer
==//==//==

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