Volunteers from abroad visit Ethiopia on humanitarian mission (NEWS RELEASE)

 

(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 15-28 October 2007) To help usher in the new Millennium, more than 70 volunteers from the United States and Canada will help provide clean drinking water and protection from the crippling and potentially fatal poliovirus. 
  

These volunteers are members of Rotary, a global humanitarian service organization that has made ending polio worldwide its main philanthropic goal. During Ethiopia’s nationwide polio immunization campaign (18-21 October), the visiting volunteers will join fellow Rotarians in Ethiopia, along with a vast array of other volunteers and health workers to administer the drops of the oral polio vaccine to an estimated 16 million children under age five.

 

Leading the group for the seventh year is Rotary club member Ezra Teshome, who emigrated to the United States from Ethiopia in 1971. "I can think of no better way to celebrate the new millennium than by serving the people of my former homeland," said Teshome. "This historic opportunity to end polio in Ethiopia and worldwide is within reach. We will remain committed until every child is protected against the devastating consequences of this disease."
  

Significant progress has been made toward ending polio in Ethiopia, which has not reported a single case so far this year. Ethiopia recorded 22 cases in 2005 and 17 in 2006 after an outbreak affected the entire Horn of Africa region. Vigilant surveillance remains critical, especially during the upcoming season of traditional pilgrimages, which bring high numbers of travelers to the region.

 

In addition to protecting children from polio, some group members will visit an ongoing, Rotary-supported well project that provides clean drinking water to about 30 villages.

 

Overall, tremendous progress has been made toward ending polio worldwide. Within the past two decades, polio cases have been slashed by 99 percent. Less than two thousand cases were reported last year. Two billion children have been immunized, five million spared disability and over 250,000 deaths have been averted from polio.

 

Rotary’s commitment to end polio represents the largest private-sector support of a global health initiative ever. In 1985, Rotary members worldwide vowed to immunize all the world’s children against polio. Since then, Rotary has contributed US$620 million to polio eradication, of which US$7.7 million supports these efforts in Ethiopia.

 

Besides raising and contributing funds, over 1 million men and women of Rotary have volunteered their time and personal resources to help immunize more than 2 billion children in 122 countries during national immunization campaigns.
 


Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide to provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. It is comprised of 1.2 million members working in over 32,000 clubs in more than 170 countries. Rotary members initiate community projects that address many of today’s most critical issues, such as violence, AIDS, hunger, the environment and health care.

 
 

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF