San Antonio, Texas
 26 June 2001

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour to address you here in San Antonio. And this is my chance to reflect publicly on your unsurpassed commitment to improving global health. On behalf of the World Health Organization, I thank each and every one of you. Our organizations share a vision. If all people can access the health care they need, we will see an end to the vicious cycle of illness and deprivation. Together, we are creating awareness about global health issues, and together, we are taking action to promote health equity.

Increasingly, global public health is a priority on the international agenda. The momentum is building. The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is leading a coalition of public and private partners calling for the resources to effectively tackle illnesses that undermine the wellbeing of poor people - starting with HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. World leaders are heeding this call and are committing resources and changing their policies to use health as a key tool for development.

Continued support from civil society - from organizations such as Rotary International - will be crucial for us to achieve this goal. I thank Rotary for its commitment to creating awareness and taking action on these issues - through your education and prevention programmes.

I also want to congratulate the Rotarians, and give a special thanks to President Frank Devlyn, for his leadership in the Avoidable Blindness Initiative. I invite Rotary to continue working towards the WHO’s goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

These projects clearly demonstrate Rotary International’s commitment to global public health. But no where is this more apparent than in Rotary’s outstanding contribution as a spearheading partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. WHO, UNICEF, and CDC - your partners - are extremely proud to be leading this successful programme with you.

The Trustees of the Rotary Foundation regularly reaffirm that polio eradication is a premier goal of Rotary International, until the world is certified polio-free. All of you reflect this in your work.

Your commitment of time and funds have directly led to incredible progress in the eradication of polio. You have in fact led the effort from the beginning, from a pilot project in the Philippines in 1979, to the official launch of PolioPlus in 1985. You were the first with the vision to deliver polio vaccine to every child - and you took action to make this happen.

At that time, you launched a campaign aimed to raise US$ 120 million for oral polio vaccine for newborns in the developing world. When the campaign ended, the generosity of Rotarians helped double that sum - you collected more than 247 million, and you are still counting. By now, your overall financial contributions to polio eradication total more than US$ 400 million. And by the time Rotary celebrates its centennial in 2005, it is likely to have reached half a billion US dollars. That makes Rotary International, by far, the largest private sector contributor.

So, where have your contributions brought us?

The answer is: extremely far down the road to polio eradication. So close, in fact, our target is well within view. But to see how far we’ve come, we should take a moment and look back.

Only 50 years ago, the poliovirus caused real panic on this continent - every parent was terrified their child would fall victim to polio - end up paralysed, in an iron lung, or dead.

America’s most famous polio sufferer - President Franklyn Roosevelt, raised the battle cry against the disease and in the parlance of 1944, said:

The miracle of two effective vaccines indeed removed the shadow of "the crippler" from this part of the world. But for hundreds of millions of children in developing countries, the vaccine remained unattainable, and the fight against polio had not really begun. The wild poliovirus was far from surrendering.

When UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and WHO joined Rotary International to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, polio was still paralysing children in 125 countries. About 1000 children every day - 350,000 children every year who could no longer walk - forced to crawl, or hobble along on withered legs.

We have come far since then. I am proud to report that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with Rotary’s unwavering support, has reduced the number of cases by 99 per cent. In 2000, only 3,500 cases were reported.

Our efforts mean three million people in the developing world, who would have been paralysed, are walking today. Last year alone, we immunized 550 million - 85 per cent - of the world’s children.

The countries of the Western Pacific - including the Philippines, where Rotarians first focused their efforts, and China, was certified polio-free in 2000. That Region joins the Americas, certified in 1994. The European Region, which includes the whole of the former Soviet Union, is on track for polio-free certification early in 2002.

Progress over the last two years alone leaves no doubt about the efficacy of the recommended strategies, and our ability to rapidly put a stop to the polio virus. In 1999 there were 50 countries where polio was continuously present. In 2000 there were 30. Now in 2001, there are no more than 20. Of those, only eight countries stand for 85 per cent of the total burden. Together, we can finish the job. We can make polio history.

I have already focused upon your financial contribution to polio eradication. But your involvement goes so much further than that. Your firm support in communities, mobilizing volunteers, offering logistical help and delivering vaccines to places we never imagined they could go - these are unique contributions you have so generously given the programme.

Rotary has been instrumental in mobilizing some of the 10 million volunteers who make this programme work every year. In this United Nations International Year of Volunteers, I wish to pay tribute to the spirit of volunteerism which infuses so much of what you do.

I am inspired by your many personal stories - your extraordinary efforts to reach children in extraordinary circumstances.

Rotarians like Sylvia Nagy - who led the Angolan Rotary Club to commandeer corporate jets, helicopters and trucks to bring vaccine through Angola’s landmine-strewn countryside.

Rotarian Masami Hiraoka - who travelled by boat to personally deliver vaccine to children living along Cambodia’s remote waterways - an effort which led to the elimination of polio in that last country carrying the virus in the Western Pacific and therefore the eventual certification of that region as polio-free.

Rotarian Dr Bill Sprague - a man who has never forgotten the children who suffered polio in this country - and has gone on to 16 more countries, many of them difficult, staying several weeks in each one to help coordinate polio immunization efforts.

And, in a demonstration of Rotary’s sheer strength in numbers, more than 100,000 Indian Rotarians and their families joined the Government of India in immunizing 152 million children on one day last December - the largest public health event ever in the world.

There’s more. Much more.

Through skilful advocacy from Rotarians, the leaders of Nigeria, China, India, the United States, Ethiopia, the Philippines and many more countries have come forward and dropped the protective polio vaccine into the mouths of their nations’ children.

The Rotary Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force has helped deliver more than US$ 900 million of funding to the programme from donor governments.

Through PolioPlus Partners, a programme which has raised over US$ 28 million, you have provided computers, vaccine carriers and laboratory equipment to the countries which need it most.

Rotary International’s emergency "Rapid Response Grant" fund has also been invaluable - by allowing the release of up to half a million US dollars in a matter of days. In one case, these funds helped medical authorities effectively respond to an imported case of polio in China - ensuring that no other child would be infected.

And finally, I would like to extend my personal thanks to Bill Sergeant - the Chairman of the International PolioPlus Committee. Some have called Bill the engine that drives Rotary’s polio efforts. He is an extremely powerful engine indeed - and one that never fails. It is under Bill’s careful leadership that Rotary has made its enormous contribution to polio eradication. I am extremely grateful for Bill’s work - and for his time in ensuring the spearheading partners work smoothly together. Bill, on behalf of all of us, thank you.

I know each one of you will continue these outstanding efforts until we have found and immunized every last child with polio vaccine. This is your legacy to our planet - and you will long be remembered for it. Let me join you now in giving you a hand.

We can eradicate polio. We are 99 per cent of the way there. But, the final 1 per cent may be as challenging as the first 99. This means we must push ourselves even harder. We cannot rest until we finish.

Now, when the end is in sight, it is easy to waver. National leaders and health officials may think, "what are a few cases of polio compared with all the other diseases we have to struggle with?" But the recent outbreaks - as well experience with other diseases that were at one time almost eradicated but now have rebounded - show us that it is all or nothing. We cannot relax now.

We know that polio eradication will only be achieved if political leaders remain committed to the target. In donor countries, Rotarians have played a major role in inviting donor agencies to become and remain partners. In this country in particular, your persistent advocacy has ensured steady support from USAID. We appreciate your recognition of committed members of Congress, the Senate and influential leaders world-wide through the "Champion" awards given every year.

In the polio endemic countries, we have seen notable commitment from the leaders of India, Nigeria, Mali, Niger, the Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, to name just a few. When leaders are committed to eradicating polio from their countries, polio cases are reduced and disease surveillance improves.

I encourage your continued advocacy in this and all countries, - to ensure polio eradication remains high on the list of priorities. So that every child is reached.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Accessing every child indeed remains one of our greatest challenges. On this front, we have, with your help, forged impressive new paths. In the face of seemingly intractable conflict, you have helped encourage soldiers to stop firing their weapons - so their children can also be vaccinated. We have seen this happen recently during "Days of Tranquillity" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Afghanistan - and originally in El Salvador, Sri Lanka and Peru. We cannot wait for these conflicts to end before we make an effort to protect children against polio.

Conflict still prevents us from reaching some children - especially in countries such as Angola. I ask Rotarians based in these countries to join the partners and continue to do their utmost to help negotiate "Days of Tranquillity". To help in providing the vehicles, people and know-how necessary to reach these children. We have a narrow window of opportunity to do so. Let us apply the lessons learned in achieving "Days of Tranquillity", so that every child can be safely reached and protected.

Of all the challenges we face, one poses the single biggest threat to our success. Perhaps you will find it remarkable considering Rotary’s contributions, but there remains a substantial funding gap. Between now and 2005 polio eradication will cost us an estimated 1 billion US dollars. Of this, 600 million is pledged, including the generous contributions from Rotary International.

We need to urgently raise the rest - US$ 400 million. More than half of these funds are needed within the next 18 months. We need this money to continue carrying out quality polio National Immunization Days - to buy vaccines, to keep them cold, to purchase fuel for vehicles and pay health staff, as well as to improve the surveillance system and laboratory network. As you know, the final one per cent of our work includes reaching children in some of the most difficult countries. We can reach them, but at a cost.

WHO, CDC, UNICEF and the other partners are all working hard to close the funding gap so that they all will be reached as soon as possible.

I appreciate Rotary’s continued work with WHO and other partners to go this extra mile. In particular, I know many of you are working with the UN Foundation to raise funds from private donors throughout this year. Another tremendous example of what private-public partnerships can achieve.

We must continue to push very hard to raise these additional funds. Just as every child counts, so too does every dollar.

Simply put, if we cannot quickly raise these funds, we cannot finish our work. We will lose ground and, the major gains we have made thus far, and the chance to eradicate this disease could elude us.

We cannot, and will not, let this happen.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Rotary International’s commitment to polio eradication is building a better world for our children. The eradication of a disease is a rare global public good - one that will benefit all people, no matter where they call home - for all time.

This in itself is a major, historical achievement . But I am also proud to report that as we work together to beat down one disease, we are building up better health services for the world’s children. This is the "Plus" in PolioPlus. The "plus" is everything we have learned - to apply to other global public health tasks. The "plus" is strategies which take us to children in the most remote locations, against all odds. The "plus" is a strengthened cold chain, which can bring more vaccines to those children. The "plus" is the creation of Inter-Agency Coordinating Committees - or "ICCs" - institutions which are helping deliver new vaccines to children. The "plus" is putting children on the global health map, by giving many access to health services for the very first time. The "plus" is the firm public-private partnership which will serve as a model for years to come, as we address HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal illness and diseases like leprosy and river blindness.

Our partnership for polio eradication has broken new ground. It has forged a road that others should follow. Let us, WHO, Rotary International, UNICEF and CDC continue to lead the way. Because of your commitment, the end - a polio-free world - is in sight. I look forward to celebrating this achievement with you, the champions of a noble cause.

Thank you.