194
Why You Should Worry
about
a Case of Polio in Somalia
Low vaccination rates in multiple African countries
could doom global
eradication efforts
From Afghanistan to
Somalia, the struggle to eradicate polio continues to lurch along in fits and
starts. The past few days have brought a modicum of good news and some
potentially quite bad news.
On May 13, the Taliban
issued a statement declaring that it would no longer
target polio vaccine workers and is ordering its fighters to help in
vaccination campaigns. The group had previously marked vaccine workers for
death because of fears that they might be acting as spies for Western
countries—fears that were further inflamed by a successful US effort to
assassinate Osama bin Laden that included a sham
hepatitis vaccine campaign by the CIA.
Just two days
earlier, however, the World Health Organization reported that “wild-type”
poliovirus was isolated in Somalia
from a 32-month-old girl who suddenly became paralyzed, as well as from three
other individuals with whom she was in contact. Genetic testing has since
indicated that the virus in question is linked to
polioviruses circulating in northern Nigeria,
according to Nature’s newsblog. The setback marks the first new
case of naturally occurring polio in Somalia since March 2007. Emergency
vaccination initiatives—and fund-raising to pay for them—are now underway.
As the accompanying map shows, this
development is a concern not just for Somalia, but for a broad swath of Africa,
where low vaccination rates leave children particularly vulnerable to infection
with polio, most likely from Nigeria (particularly northern Nigeria), where the
virus is still endemic. In our increasingly interconnected world, an
uncontrolled outbreak in these countries could fuel polio’s return around the
globe--which would be particularly tragic considering that there had been only
26 cases of polio (before the Somalia news) reported worldwide so far in 2013,
compared with 53 at
this point last year
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Doing Good Intro
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Rotary Club of Bridgetown
Alan
Wilson inducting new Rotarians Ted Lamont and Richard Wittenoom
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Rotary Club of Heirisson
Our lovely
new member Denise Ram
was inducted by Greg Thurston at the meeting on the 16th,
Mike Shade presented her with a lovely bouquet of flowers,
Denise is a very
welcome addition to the club.
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Rotary Club of Mill Point
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Rotary Club of Bridgetown
Last Sunday’s special lunch at our regular meeting place
at
Nelsons of Bridgetown to honour the long service of Rotarian Max Armstrong.
Max has provided many decades of community service
and is now 86 years
old.
Presentation to Max of Special Certificate
Alan Wilson Club Secretary hand Max knife to cut the cake
Max cuts the cake
Max with his wife Doris shows the certificate
Certificate close up
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Doing Good in Japan
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This coming Tuesday
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Pictures from the recent Parra amble.... in Parramatta
wonder where they got the idea from??
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June 8th is a busy night for Quiz nights
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Rotary Club of Heirisson Duck Derby 2013
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Members
from Rotary Club of Kwinana Inc,
RC Byford and Districts
and Victoria Park Rotary
came together to achieve for peace in Timor-Leste
and
enjoy some time together.
The team's project provided reliable clean water
for communities. — in Timor-Leste.
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Rotary Club of Batavia Coast
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Rotary Club of Applecross
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Rotary Club of Northbridge
Rotary Club of Northbridge
Amanda Cormier (L) and Brianna James (R), the 2013
incoming and outgoing students for the Rotary Adventures in Tourism exchange
that our club participates in with the Rotary Club of Kelowna-Ogopogo
in
British Columbia, Canada (D5060).
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Rotary Club of Geraldton
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Rotary Club of West Perth
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Rotary Clubs of Fremantle
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Rotary Club of Belmont
President Elect Michele Alexander with District Governor Elect Hank de Smitt
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Rotary Club of Ascot
Vocational visit to Food bank
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Rotary Club of Mundaring
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Rotary Clubs of Bunbury
South Bunbury
and Bunbury Leschenault
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Rotary Club of Bunbury Leschenault
at Roses Bar for Friday afternoon drinks and with the clubs new Promotional Banner
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Rotary Club of Ballajura Malaga
some of 600 people who attended the Quiz night on May 18th
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Rotary Clubs of Melville and Applecross
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Rotary Club of Mill Point
Golf Day
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Researching
bars for Australian Rotaract Conference 2013 —
with Aaron Hueppauff, Laura Cheetham, Ian Ball and Sam Applegate
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More pictures of Youth Exchange Students from both Districts on the North West Safari
On the beach at Monkey Mia
Mile long jetty in Carnarvon
Vlaming Lighthouse
Camping out
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This weeks funny picture
Seen at the Rotary Club of Mill Point
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CLUB PROMOTIONS
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Rotary in Egypt
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Rotary Club of Hannans Kalgoorlie
May 28th [1994]
Rotary Club of Applecross
June 3rd [1971]
Rotary Club of East Perth
June 9th [1969]
Rotary Club of Esperance
June 12th [1962]
Rotary Club of Midland
June 14th [1985]
Rotary Club of Wongan Hills
June 15th [1965]
Rotary Club of Cockburn
June 18th [1969]
Rotary Club of Bunbury
June 19th [1939]
Rotary Club of Booragoon
June 21st [1983]
Rotary Club of South Bunbury
June 23rd [1967]
Rotary Club of Willetton
June 25th [1982]
Rotary Club of Kalamunda
June 27th [1962]
Rotary Club of Mandurah
June 27th [1961]
Rotary Club of Mount Lawley
June 28th [1949]
Rotary Club of West Perth
June 28th [1954]
Rotary Club of Quairading
June 30th [1963]
Rotary Club of Cambridge
June 30th [1969]
Rotary Club of Rossmoyne
June 30th [1972]
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fun with Animals
For
decades it had been just a small village at a ford across a small river.
As the
area became more closely settled a dam was built upstream.
Unnoticed
by the dam builders,
a vein of valuable gemstones was amongst
the material used
to create the wall.
It
didn’t take some of the locals long to find this source of wealth
and a
gemstone marketplace was set up in the now-dry riverbed.
It was a
challenge to dig the stones out of the dam,
but it provided a good living.
A new
and inexperienced gemstone hunter
wanted to gather all the stones at once
and sell them
in one huge batch at the riverbed market.
However
wiser heads prevailed after they told him,
“You don’t want to dig out all the
stones at one time.
You’ll flood the market.”
Savour the moment
stolen from the Rotary Club of Kalgoorlie newsletter
