Rotarians remember sacrifice of 200 volunteers on World Polio Day

Re-garnering support for taking the fight against polio to a conclusive end would be a sincere tribute to more than 200 Rotary volunteers who were killed while working on the polio eradication campaigns in Pakistan and Afghanistan, said social activists vowing commitment to the noble cause on occasion of World Polio Day.

“It is not an occasion to celebrate success as we have witnessed an outbreak of a variant of poliovirus type 2 in Gaza on July 24 and the global organisations had to undertake massive vaccination under stressed circumstances there,” said the District Governor, Dr Sandeep Chauhan.

Recollecting the sacrifices of volunteers working on polio eradication campaigns as a part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Chief Advisor PDG (past district governor) Amjad Ali said due to the lack of awareness and myths about the virus, over 200 polio team workers had lost their lives while working on polio campaigns so far. He said most of the killings were reported from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ali said a coordinated and intensive campaign had been launched under the supervision of PDG Ghanshyam Kansal to transform the theme ‘World Polio Day 2024: A chance for reflection and a reminder to reach every last child’ into reality.

Office-bearers and activists of Ahmedgarh, Ahmedgarh Dynamic, Malerkotla, Malerkotla Midtown and Malerkotla Dynamic led by president Venu Gopal Sharma and the secretary, Ashok Kumar Verma, organised workshops, seminars and lectures at their respective localities.

The speakers highlighted causes and consequences of lack of awareness of risks involved with failure to eradicate reservoirs of polio virus in pockets of populations inhabited by less educated people.

Victims of various incidents of violent and fatal attacks against polio volunteers in Pakistan and Afghanistan were remembered.

Speakers recalled that in January 2016, 16 polio workers had died in a suicide attack in Quetta in Pakistan, while six more female polio workers were shot dead in the same city on different days. The speakers recalled 68 deaths all across Pakistan from December 2012 to January 2014 and multiple cases of verbal and physical assaults reported from Karachi and KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Province, while 11 teachers supporting campaigns were abducted, causing panic.