Despite setbacks, polio will be eradicated

In 1988, 350,000 cases of polio were reported around the world, even though there were no new cases in most developed countries where polio vaccine had been in wide use since the 1950s.

Just three years earlier, Rotary International, the world's oldest and largest service organization, had embarked on an ambitious fund-raising effort called PolioPlus to raise enough money to make the vaccine available everywhere.

Thanks to the success of that effort -- 1.2 million Rotarians will have raised $500 million by 2005, it is estimated -- and the help of such organizations as the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, the U.N. Foundation and UNICEF, there had been hopes that the world would be free of polio by 2005, which is the centennial of the founding of Rotary International.

In order to be declared polio-free, a country must not have any new cases for three years. Unfortunately, new cases in India show a disturbing increase -- 232 so far this year -- that very likely will push back the goal in that populous nation.

New polio cases have been reported in five other nations this year: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Niger, Nigerian and Somalia. As any observer of current events can tell, polio's last hold is in countries where poverty or war -- or both -- are prevalent.

That's the sad part of the effort to wipe out polio. The cost of a two-drop dose of vaccine is only pennies. Volunteers from all over the world will gladly go wherever needed to administer the oral vaccine, which takes only a few seconds. But the realities of political and military situations in the remaining countries were polio exists continue to hamper the effort.

Optimistically, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is predicting that it still may be possible to eradicate polio in India in the next 12 to 18 months. It's just a matter of getting a large volume of vaccine doses to youngsters who are the most susceptible targets for the crippling virus.

When the effort to rid the world of smallpox began several years ago, there were plenty of doubters who wondered if such a goal could ever be achieved. It was.

Now the time has come for the eradication of polio. Thanks to the generosity and cooperation of so many individuals and organizations, Rotary's 20-year effort is close to success. While reports that polio cases are increasing in India are disturbing, they will not curtail the continuing effort to succeed.

Soon, the world will be able to say it is free of smallpox and polio.