With the World Polio Day set to be celebrated globally on October 24, Aziz Memon, National Chair, Pakistan PolioPlus Committee, has expressed the hope that, with the combined efforts of all stakeholders, the deadly disease is on the way to extinction and it’s a matter of time to make the world polio free at last.
Aziz Memon, a senior Rotarian of over three decades standing, has been associated with the Rotary Club of Karachi, the biggest and oldest Rotary club of District 3271, established 92 years ago. He was a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation (2020-2024), and is also currently a member of the International PolioPlus Committee. He is credited to have championed the cause of polio eradication.
“Pakistan continues to report wild poliovirus cases, with 74 cases recorded in 2024 but the figure has gone down to one third this year, reflecting progress in containing the spread of disease. These are primarily in high-risk districts of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Karachi remains a critical battleground also,” he remarked while talking to PNFS on the eve of the World Polio Day 2025.
“Conflict, illiteracy, migration patterns and disinformation have been persistent challenges. The solution lies in unyielding political will, community engagement, and the unwavering efforts of organizations like Rotary,” he added.
Pakistan remains only one of two countries in the world where the devastating disease of poliomyelitis still exists with the other country being Afghanistan. Pakistan has overcome many hurdles over the years in its fight to eradicate polio, but total eradication has still not been possible.
Poliomyelitis, or polio in short, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. It primarily affects children under age of five. But it can also infect an unvaccinated person of any age. The poliovirus attacks the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of few hours. Irreversible paralysis, usually of the leg, occurs in about one in 200 cases. And among those paralyzed, 5 to 10% die when breathing muscles become immobilized.
“No cure for polio has been discovered yet. But fortunately, it can be prevented through vaccination, which needs to be during Routine Immunization, which is at birth, then six weeks, 10 week and 14 weeks. Due low Routine Immunization in most parts of the country, we need to administer polio vaccine drops multiple times, which offers protection and builds immunity against the polio virus,” Aziz Memon revealed.
“Polio has perhaps existed for thousands of years, although it was recognized as a virus-caused contagious disease only in the past 100 years or so. Until about the mid-1980s, polio was prevalent throughout the world, even though the first polio vaccine, was developed in 1955. As global vaccination vastly increased, the incidence of wild poliovirus decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 countries, to two endemic countries at the moment-Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he recalled, adding that the virus is spread mainly through the oral-fecal route or, through contaminated water or food, multiplying rapidly in the intestine.
“The global war against polio has been led from the start by Rotary International, a global, not-for-profit humanitarian organization, which is 120 years old this year. Rotary launched a global effort for immunization of the world’s children in 1985. World Polio Day was first observed by Rotary International on October 24, 1985, to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk, the scientist who developed the first effective polio vaccine in 1955. And that is how the World Polio Day came about,” he narrated.
“After this start in 1985, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was established in 1988 with Rotary as a founding partner, alongside WHO, UNICEF, the U.S. CDC, and later the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At that time, polio was paralyzing more than a thousand children globally, every single day,” he continued.
“Since then, Rotary has contributed more than US$3 billion towards polio eradication, mobilized over 1 million volunteers, and vaccinated nearly 3 billion children across 122 countries. Rotary has contributed close to US$500 million dollars in Pakistan for Polio eradication. As a result of close cooperation between more than 200 countries and the untiring work of some 20 million volunteers, over 20 million children are able to walk today, instead of being paralyzed,” Aziz Memon shared.
“The Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, supported by Rotary and GPEI partners, is one of the most extensive public health campaigns in the world. More than 339,000 health workers, many of them women, go door-to-door across Pakistan to ensure that every child under five is immunized. And today we are very close to eradicating a disease globally from our planet. When this happens, it will be only the second time in human history that a disease has been forever eliminated, followed by the eradication of smallpox in 1980,” Aziz Memon hoped.
“The World Polio Day is also a call to honour the tireless vaccinators working in some of the most difficult conditions. Several have laid down their lives for the cause, as have many law enforcement personnel, protecting them on duty. The final steps are always the hardest, but history will remember those who refused to give up. The eradication will be a victory for humanity; proof that collective action, global solidarity, and the simple act of caring for children can change the course of history. And as Rotarians, we take pride in knowing that polio eradication is Rotary’s gift to the world, and it is within our grasp to make it permanent,” he concluded.
