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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Harriet C. Babbitt,
at "Celebrating Progress Against Polio" Event
USAID Deputy Administrator
April 12, 2000
Good morning everyone.
I'd like to say a special hello to all the children, who are here today to represent children around the world and their fight against polio.
I understand students from D.C.'s McFarland Middle School are here -- a group of young people committed to improving the world around them. Through USAID's Operation Day's Work program, these students raise money to help young people around the world -- this year they will be raising money to help teenagers in El Salvador.
I remember when the polio vaccine first offered hope to every child and every parent -- and how many, many years passed before we eradicated polio in this country.
I remember classmates in my elementary school who needed braces to move because the vaccine didn't get to their neighborhoods in time. And I saw an aunt this weekend who has limped for 80 years because her childhood preceded the invention of the vaccine.
As we all know, there was a time when Franklin Roosevelt suffered from this disease, which still affects thousands of children around the world.
Today, thanks to the hard work of people like you, eradication is within our grasp.
Last year alone, health care workers immunized 470 million children in 83 countries against polio -- that's more than the entire population of the United States!
Long before I came to USAID, I saw the extraordinary difference this campaign made in Latin America, when that part of the world was declared polio-free.
Since then, we have immunized children from the biggest cities of India to the remotest villages of Africa.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the midst of war, workers were able to persuade President Kabila to call a cease-fire for a few days; as a result, over eight million children were vaccinated.
This was possible because millions of healthcare professionals and volunteers worked together with one common goal. And what began as a challenge issued by Rotary International is today the most successful public-private partnership in international health history.
If there was ever an example of people around the world working together to make a difference, this is it.
As we all know, fighting the spread of infectious diseases -- whether it's polio or AIDS or TB -- is a development issue.
Diseases keep people -- and therefore, societies --from reaching their full potential.
Most of the damage is immeasurable, economists say, because it appears in ways that cannot be seen -- businesses that will never be founded, ideas that will never be pitched, or university departments that will never be created.
And that is why I am so proud to say that the U.S. Agency for International Development has played a large part in eradicating polio.
USAID is a major donor supporting National Immunization Days and surveillance in the remaining reservoirs of the poliovirus -- such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Angola, and Bangladesh.
We are the largest donor to the World Health Organization's Polio Laboratories Network, a global network of labs that will monitor public health even after polio eradication has been certified.
We work with the Voice of America to help educate the citizens of developing countries about polio (I see that Sandy Unger is with us here today).
We work with NGOs both here in America and around the world to survey and monitor polio conditions and bring vaccines into the most hard-to-reach areas.
We have helped Peace Corps volunteers campaign against polio at the community level.
And we have made polio eradication a centerpiece of the U.S.-Japan Common Agenda, which has allowed us to work closely with the government of Japan to eradicate polio.
In 1988, there were over 350,000 cases of polio in the world.
Today, there are only about 7,000. Seven thousand.
At USAID, we look forward to working with all of our partners here, and all of our partners abroad, until the day we can hold another event like this one, and say: we have triumphed.
Until then, we should all pledge that we will keep immunizing, monitoring, and communicating with one another. This is the final battle of a long war, and it promises to be the hardest one to win.
Nearly 70 years ago, President Roosevelt announced a new deal for the American people. Today, on the anniversary of his death, let us pledge a new deal for all the world's children, and say that in five years, polio will be a disease of the past.
In that spirit, I would like to present to all of you USAID's 1999 Polio Eradication Initiative Report -- part of our commitment to come back in five years for a triumphant event.
Thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
