[afro-nets] Polio Eradication within reach - Ban Ki-Moon

General afro-nets
1

Can this be true?

crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn@cairo.anu.edu.au

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today anticipated the total eradication of polio before the end of 2008, hailing the efforts of Chicago-based Rotary International and other United Nations partners in this effort.

"Rotary International has led a $600 million worldwide campaign to wipe out polio. Sometime this year, their work will be done. Polio will be history, like smallpox," said Mr. Ban in an address to the Economic Club of Chicago.

The global polio partnership is spearheaded by the UN World Health
Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Over the past 20 years, the number of cases has fallen by over 99 per cent. In 2007, more than 400 million children were immunized against the disease, which remains only in northern India, northern Nigeria and the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Prior to the meeting with the Economic Club, Mr. Ban received the Rotary International Award of Honor from the organization's President, Wilfrid J. Wilkinson.

The award recognizes leaders in the international community "for their significant contributions in promoting humanitarian service, encouraging high ethical standards and advancing the goals of world peace and cross-cultural understanding," according to officials from Rotary International.

Previous recipients include Kofi Annan, Margaret Thatcher, F.W. DeKlerk, four US presidents.

--
Claudio Schuftan
mailto:cschuftan@phmovement.org

2

Dear Claudio, Dear Colleagues

Yes ... I believe it is true. And then there is the question of why this was a success, when so much else is merely a lot of money doing rather little?

I think part of the answer to this is that it was done relatively quietly by people interested and committed to health and the goals of the program. It rarely became a global news event and accordingly has not attracted the individuals and organizations interested merely in milking the program for personal benefit.

I wish I had hard data ... but I am pretty certain that the level of fund flow losses in the polio program has been perhaps an order of magnitude better than in the case of HIV-AIDS programs over the past several years and now malaria. I wish I had data that would show this definitively ... but I don't and probably never will.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess

--
Peter Burgess
The Transparency and Accountability Network: Tr-Ac-Net in New York
http://www.tr-ac-net.org
IMMC - The Integrated Malaria Management Consortium Inc.
http://www.IMMConsortium.org
The Tr-Ac-Net blogs ... start at http://tracnetagenda.blogspot.com
+1 917 432 1191 or +1 212 772 6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com