Internationally known polio experts, vaccination field teams from Afghanistan, and Rotarians across District 6900 came together on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at the Polio Symposium: Past, Present, and Future held at the Shriner’s Auditorium in Atlanta. Sponsored by the E-Rotary Club of Emory Clifton, the keynote speaker was Dr. Hamid Jafari, Deputy Director of the Center for Global Heath at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who previously was the Director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) at the World Health Organization in Geneva.

Along the presentations that provided an update on current and future polio eradication efforts by Dr, Jafari and other Rotary and CDC polio experts, Rotarians also learned about the history of the treatment of this disease. The Warm Springs Institute brought a display of the various braces and casts used to treat polio victims at Warm Springs. A Polio survivor Robert Prather of Rotary Club of Meriwether County provided several Rotarians with a first-hand view of what life in an iron lung was like for a polio victim. Participants were given the opportunity to go inside an iron lung and for as brief time experience what life was like in this life-saving medical device. Today, there are still individuals who depend on iron lungs to keep them alive. As one Rotarian commented after being inside the iron lung, “Not remembering the disease of polio, I never realized the extreme limitations of this disease and how it impacted the lives of its victims. It really reinforces the need to end this disease.”

A RECAP OF OUR SPEAKERS
In the keynote presentation, Dr. Jafari talked about the progress that had been made by the GPEI in reducing the number of cases of wild polio cases to less than 1% of the total number of wild polio cases that existed when the initiative started in 1988.Dr. Jafari cited the tremendous worldwide assistance of Rotary in helping to make this remarkable accomplishment possible through community mobilization and health promotion efforts in many countries. He also talked about the challenges that must be addressed as the polio eradication strives for zero cases worldwide.

Carol Pandak, the Director of Rotary’s Polio Plus program, briefed participants on the program's achievements - highlighting the tremendous impact that Rotarians worldwide have made in spearheading the elimination of polio in many countries. Ms. Pandak also talked on the efforts of Rotary Clubs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria who play pivotal roles in mobilizing support for the polio eradication initiative and polio campaigns in their countries.

There are three countries that continue to have polio – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Each of these counties have unique challenges that limit the ability of vaccinators to reach children with the polio vaccine. The challenges of ending polio in Afghanistan was the topic of the presentation of the UNICEF Polio vaccination team that was web streamed live from Kabul. Team members Melissa Corkum, Dr. Hemanth Shukla , and Dr. Abdul Waheed Zaheertalked about the daily dangers that polio vaccinators faced as they worked to unvaccinated children in the insecure and often remote areas of Afghanistan where their lives are often in danger. The team discussed the progress that had been made in reaching previously unreached children, how vaccinators employ innovative strategies to provide vaccination and the dedication that team members have display on a daily basis when they travel into insecure and often outright dangerous areas of the country.

Dr. Steve Wassilak, the Polio Science Team Lead at the CDC’s, Global Immunization Division briefed Rotarians on the recent changes in vaccines used to eliminate wild polio given the elimination and near elimination of many polio viruses. The success against two of the three types of polio viruses lead to a change in the formulation of polio vaccines with the Type 2 Wild Polio Virus Vaccine being removed from the oral polio vaccine (OPV) used to vaccinate children. Also, the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV), the vaccination given by injection in the arm is gradually replacing the Oral Polio Vaccine given by mouth.

In areas of low vaccination coverage, an offshoot of polio virus sometimes emerges from remnants of the oral polio vaccine.This offshoot virus is called a “vaccine derived polio virus” and can be quickly controlled by vaccination. Special vaccine teams that can move quickly to address vaccine derived outbreaks have been assembled to quickly responding to areas where vaccine derived polio virus emerges in order to eliminate the virus. As the global use of the IPV increases replacing OPV, the vaccine derived polio virus will be eliminated. However, in many polio endemic areas, especially hard to reach areas OPV is still the vaccine of choice for now.

Michael Grudzinski of UNICEF Headquarters in New York updated Rotarians on the changing efforts of UNICEF country teams of UNICEF as the work to end polio continues globally. He presented Rotarians with a global overview of how the country teams working with Rotarians have mounted a successful social mobilization effort in polio vaccine resistant areas and how these techniques are being used in areas that still have active polio cases.

Anna Callaghan of the Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program administered by the CDC presented Rotarians with an update on the program - started by the CDC and Rotary. The STOP program was started by CDC and Rotary to meet the need of providing trained staff to countries undertaking polio vaccination programs. She talked about the countries where STOP team members serve a nine-month assignment - supporting country efforts to end polio by providing services ranging from data management and analysis to communication, and field leadership. Dr. Jeevaan Makam of CDC, and a member of the RCEC, provides STOP support in East Africa.

Elizabeth Patrick of the CDC Foundation provided the last presentation on the Polio Heroes Fund that provides surviving family members of polio team members killed while performing their vaccination duties with monetary compensation. This program has provided and continues to help the families of vaccinators and field staff. This program was started by Rotarians and the late Bob Keegan of CDC to provide global recognition of the sacrifice that the families of killed polio staff have made to eliminate this crippling disease.

THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS

The Rotary Club of Emory Clifton wishes to recognize the following clubs and individuals that made this program a success:

• Rotary Club of Emory Clifton Officers and Members, Pia Valeriano (President), Yamin Farhat (Foundation Chair/Founder), Jeevan Makam (Vice President), Alan Janssen (PRO), Peter Yarkasah , (Secretary), John Yembu (Secretary) , Deblina Datta (Past President), Angelii Abrol (Membership Chair)
• Presenters: Melissa Corkum, Dr. Hemanth Shukla, Dr. Abdul W. Zaheer from Afghanistan,, Carol Pandak – RI’s Polio Director, Hamid Jafari,, Steven Wassilak, Anna Callaghan, Michael Grudzinski, Elizabeth Patrick,
• Donors and Sponsors: Narayan Sangupta, Roger Wise, Dr. Chandler Sharma Esq., Robert “Bob” Hagan , Inamullah, Amangpintor, Galen Oelkers, Alan Janssen, Lorri Christopher, Robert Prater, Jennifer Holt, Lou Alvarado, Elwyn Gaissert and Chris Brand, Sgt at Arms, Rajajapala Sridaran from Morehouse School of Medicine, Yaarab Shriners of North Georgia, Rotary International, Rotary District 6900, CDC, UNICEF, FODAC, Rotary Club of Dunwoody, Rotary Club of LaGrange, Rotary Club of North Cobb, Rotary Club of Peachtree City, Rotary Club of Roswell, Rotary Club of Smyrna, Rotary Club of Vinings-Cumberland, Jennifer Holt- Roosevelt Warm Springs ,