Rotary International pledges more support

Rotary International pledges more support

JAKARTA (JP): Rotary International pledged to help Indonesia
again in the country's anti-polio immunization drive this year,
its president said.

Herb Brown said in a press conference on Saturday that his
organization would likely donate US$1 million to this year's
drive, as the Indonesian government has requested.

Since 1987, the organization has given nearly $9 million to
Indonesia's anti-polio campaign.

Last year, when Indonesia launched its National Immunization
Drive in September and October to immunize some 22 million
children, the organization also provided $1 million.

The free immunization program will be repeated this year and
next year.

"All countries should free themselves of polio by holding
similar drives," Brown said. "Even if there is only one country
left with polio, our effort will be useless, because the disease
can spread to other areas."

Only with such concerted efforts can the world's population
rid itself of the disease by the year 2000, Brown said.

Among the countries which have conducted polio-eradication
drives by holding nationwide immunization programs are Indonesia,
China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.

In China and Vietnam, for instance, the immunization programs
have greatly reduced the number of polio cases from more than
1,000 to about 100 cases per year. Both countries expect to see
the number go down to zero this year.

Indonesia hopes to rid itself of polio by next year. It
declared itself free of small pox in 1990.

The campaign to eliminate polio originated as a commitment
made by the World Health Assembly and the World Summit for
Children in 1988, which agreed to rid the world's population of
polio by the year 2000.

Experts said that if every child under the age of five was
given polio immunization, there would no longer be a chance for
the virus to exist, both in the human body and in the air, since
the virus can only survive in open air for less than 48 hours.

Some of the funds that the Rotary provided to Indonesia were
used to help in the production of polio vaccines and for the
procurement of freezers used to store the vaccine.

Tjoet Rachman, the organizer of Brown's visit here, said that
Rotary International gave Minister of Health Sujudi and the
Family Welfare Movement letters of appreciation on Saturday for
their efforts in the polio eradication drive. (31)