We are this close – but work required after the last recorded case Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated
350 000 cases then, to 74 reported cases in 2015. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease. Today, only 2 countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.
Even if the last case of polio is identified this year (as is hoped), a huge amount of work will remain to ensure that it stays gone because as long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk.
Vaccinations will continue and need to be funded. In the areas where polio still exists, and many of the areas where it has recently been eradicated, the vaccines used contain a weakened live version of the
virus. That vaccine is much more effective than a killed virus at protecting communities from outbreaks, creating what is known as herd immunity. It’s also less expensive to manufacture and distribute and, because it is given orally, much easier to administer than the inactivated, injectable polio vaccine (IPV).
But, while vaccine with live virus has reduced polio by more than 99.9 percent, it carries a small risk. The weakened live virus inside a vaccine can, rarely, mutate back to a virulent form.
Where vaccination coverage is low, it can re-infect populations, even in countries that have been certified polio-free, such as Ukraine. To prevent this, once the virus has been certified eradicated, all of the live-virus vaccine around the world will be destroyed and replaced with IPV, which does not contain the live virus. This vaccine will be distributed, and trained health care workers will perform injections, a process that has already begun. The polio-fighting community will still need to vaccinate hundreds of millions of children every year until the world is certified polio-free. By that time, polio vaccinations will have become part of routine immunization programs around the world.
Once the final case of polio is recorded, it will take three years to ensure that the last case is, in fact, the final one. That means that if the final case is seen this year, all of these programs will continue to need funding and volunteers until 2019, at a price of $1.5 billion that will be funded by governments and donors including Rotary. That’s in addition
to the more than $1.5 billion Rotarians have contributed to the cause so far.
‘We are so close. We’ve got a 99.9 percent reduction in polio. But we’re not there yet,’ says John Sever, a vice-chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, who has been part of the eradication effort since the beginning.
‘Rotarians and others have to keep working. People will naturally say, well, it seems to be basically gone so let’s move on to other things, but the fact is it isn’t gone, and if we move on and don’t complete the job, we set ourselves up for having the disease come right back.’
The Raven
Number 10 Volume 50 – 7 September 2016
The Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Woden Inc.
Meetings: 6.00 for 6.15 p.m. Wednesdays, Canberra Irish Club 6 Parkinson St Weston ACT.
September – Rotary basic education and literacy month
The Raven – Page 1 The Raven – Page 4
ROTARY CLUB OF WODEN INC.
Board of Directors
President: John Burns
Secretary: John Widdup
Immediate Past President: Deborah Whitfield President Elect: John Burns
Treasurer: Lyn Svanosio
Club Service & Administration: John Widdup
Community: Shukry Sahhar
International & Foundation: Stephen Pratt New Generations: Deborah Whitfield Membership & PR: Viola Kalokerinos
Contact Information PO Box 637 Woden ACT 2606 Secretary:[email protected]
Other officers Attendance: Val Burns Program: Jeff Ibbotson
Sergeants: Stephen Pratt, Neale Emanuel, Shukry Sahhar
Public Officer: Mike Rodd Member Data: Ken Goard
Bulletins: John Gray, Bruce Wyatt, John Widdup
Facebook: Lyn Svanosio & Bruce Wyatt Webmaster: John Widdup
Previous Issues of the Raven Web: <www.wodenrotary.org.au/>
The Club’s crest & bulletin name reflect ‘Odin’ (Anglo-Saxon ‘Woden’), the ancient Nordic God of Wisdom. Odin had two ravens called Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory) who flew forth every day and returned at night to tell him what they had seen, so contributing to his wisdom.
ATTENDANCE Guestsif attending, and Members if attendance or absence is different to previous advice, then:
please advise the Attendance Officer(to help us with catering arrangements)
Val Burns 0412 720 956 [email protected] or you will be charged for the meal provided for you.
Attendance at last week’s meeting:
Members: 12
Visitors: 2 – Fabian Golla (Rotary Youth Exchange Program) Chris Edwards (Hall Rotary Club &
Australia Rotary Health)
DINNER ROSTER
THIS WEEK - 7 September NEXT WEEK - 14 September
Program: To be advised To be advised
Jeff is working on it Jeff is working on it
Greeting: Deborah Schultz George Pratt
Introduction: Viola Kalokerinos Val Burns Appreciation: John Widdup Debbie Witfield Raven Recorder: Lynette Svanosio Stephen Pratt Birthdays: None this fortnight
Anniversaries: None this fortnight The Rotary Foundation’s Goals 1. Eradicate polio, the top priority (see page 1)
2. Build a sense of ownership of the Foundation among Rotarians through their
contributions to the Annual Programs Fund, the Permanent Fund, and the Rotary Peace Centres – Woden Rotary donates a
sizeable amount (for us) to the Foundation each year Continue progress on the Future Vision plan and align the service projects with the six areas of focus:
● Peace and conflict prevention/ resolution
● Disease prevention and treatment
● Water and sanitation
● Maternal and child health
● Basic education and literacy
● Economic and community development
Tonight 7 September 2016
Club business and a
‘Surprise’
being arranged by Jeff
The Raven – Page 2 The Raven – Page 3
Last week 24 August Raven recorder: Deborah Schultz Things you should know and do – dates for your diary
Production by John Widdup
OpeningPresident John welcomed members and Chris Edwards and Fabian to the meeting and, in the absence of a Sergeant, John asked members to chat amongst themselves while we waited for dinner.
Business
• Wishing Well:John announced that he and Debbie had visited the Canberra Hospital and met with Helen (hospital Foundation) to discuss the refurbishment of the reception area that will remove the wishing well. Helen plans to meet with staff at Questacon to research the future options for a replacement for the wishing well in terms of making it more interactive, interesting and enticing for visitors to donate.
• Melbourne Cup Day Race parking:Gary Scott will contact the racecourse to confirm that the Club’s services are required for parking on Melbourne Cup Day.
• Club Inventory: Lyn said that she needs to find alternative storage arrangements for Club items in her garage. She will make an inventory with sizes and distribute it to Club members to see who could store some items. Lyn suggested some of the unused items could be sold or discarded; eg, a public address system and data projector. However, there is Club memorabilia that will need to be kept; eg, photo albums, two large honour boards.
President John identified the issue of acknowledging past members / inactive members who become ill or who die. He said that there needs to be a protocol to support those who become ill or are hospitalised and to acknowledge those who pass away.
• Arboretum BBQ 29 September: John W announced that he has sent the roster out to all members and assumes if he hasn’t heard to the contrary that all who were allocated to tasks will be able to participate. A site inspection with Hannah Semler was arranged for 9:30 am, Friday 2 September in the Village Centre for those who are delivering equipment and setting up.
Sergeant session:In the absence of all the sergeants, present John asked member to donate for happy fines. John W conducted the two-up that was won by George with two heads on the second throw.
Guest speaker
Debbie introduced the guest speaker Chris Edwards from Australian Rotary Health, who talked about the public perception of Rotary and raised issues about people seeing what is done with the money raised.
Chris said that there are three core fund-raising areas that the public identify with Rotary:
1. sausage sizzles; 2. markets, car parking, etc; and 3. sporting type events. He explained the motto that is most recognised and associated with Rotary is “service above self” and he posed the question how can the profile be elevated? Then he explained that most careers fall into the
♦ Thursday 29 September – BBQ at the Arboretum
♦ Wednesday 5 October - Hat Day Meetingfor Australian Rotary Health
♦ Weekend 28 to 30 October – District 9710 Conference to be held in Goulburn
♦ Tuesday 1 November – Melbourne Cup race course parking (all hands on deck)
♦ Wednesday 23 November – Annual General Meeting
♦ Sunday 30 April 2017 – Six Peaks Challengebike ride
♦ Week 6 to 13 May 2017 – Rotary Adventure in Citizenship (RAIC) –everyone involved
♦ 10-14 June 2017 – Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
♦ Charity Race Night –a new date to be determined
habit of caring for others and not looking after themselves, so he again posed the question “how can you give service above self without risk to yourself'?
A Rotary fitness Initiative has been developed to incorporate the business of fund-raising combined with the opportunity of marketing Rotary all while encouraging members to get out in the public and get active with “New Rotary merchandise” and for all Rotary activities or events to be centralised on a new websiteARHsport.com.
Chris then led the members on a tour of the website ARHsport.com that will host: a Rotary sporting events directory; the ARH sports clothing range; and program of activities for clubs and communities.
The marketing concept links the sporting activity with an appropriate apparel item for an activity (eg. golfing, running, cycling). Then for a donation of $100+ anyone can become a “Friend of Rotary Health” and will receive a piece of the clothing to be recognised as a supporter (at no charge with a postage and handling fee of $12.00). The costs of manufacturing are being covered by corporate
sponsors. Chris showed the apparel being worn by the legends in theCity2Surf run recently and explained the value of the publicity by being worn in such a high profile event.
Chris explained there will be an initiative to encouraged clubs to identify a “ARH Club Champion” who will ideally: 1. be someone interested in helping to promote health and exercise in their club and community; 2. find at least 6 people who will participate in regular (weekly) activity (eg, walk, ride, swim); and 3. lead the regular activity. Anyone can join in – they don’t have to be Rotarians.
Discussion then centred around the possibilities for the apparel to be incorporated into our Six Peaks Ride and how that might work – perhaps sell them with a six peaks logo thereon.
Des gave a wonderful vote of thanks relating to the spark of genius behind the concept and praised the great minds that came up with these ideas and related it back to his day when they thought running a chook raffle and raising $300 was the innovation of the day. He presented Chris with a Club glass
coaster in appreciation of his presentation.
President John presented Chris with a
$300 donation to Australian Rotary Health.
Chris and a ‘friend’ modelling the ARH sport running tee-shirt
Des thanking Chris (in polo shirt) and giving him a Club glass coaster
President John donating the cheque to Rotary Health Closure:President John
thanked everyone for attending and asked us all to ‘serve Humanity’.
