More than 100,000 health workers and volunteers participated in three days of door-to-door national polio immunizations targeting 16 million children under age five in Ethiopia at the end of October. Ethiopian President Girma Wolde-Giorgis launched the event at the National Palace in the capital, Addis Ababa, on 26 October, two days ahead of the official start date. Regional launches were also organized.

"Ethiopia was polio-free for four consecutive years because of the collaborative efforts exerted by health professionals, partners, and allies both in and outside Ethiopia," said Wolde-Giorgis. "To eradicate polio from Ethiopia, we need the full support and assistance of health workers and [the mobilization of] local human and material resources."

The president commended religious leaders for helping to inform the public in churches, mosques, and other places of worship about the benefits of polio immunization. They were making an important contribution toward advancing children's rights and welfare, he said, through encouraging society to make immunization a part of Ethiopia's child-rearing culture.

Joined by more than 35 Rotarians from Canada and the United States, members of the country's five Rotary clubs and four Rotaract clubs provided logistical support during the effort.

"We traveled throughout Ethiopia by air and over land," says Ezra Teshome, of the Rotary Club of University District of Seattle, Washington, USA, who led the team from North America. "The Ethiopians [Rotarians and Rotaractors] have done a marvelous job. We kept a very busy schedule, but we had a magnificent time there."

According to Teshome, who is originally from Ethiopia, despite the reinfection of Ethiopia with poliovirus imported from Nigeria, there is much optimism in the country that the disease will soon be eliminated for a second time.

Ethiopia has reported 16 cases so far this year, after having only one case in 2004 and being polio-free in 2003 and 2002.

"There has been that disappointment that this has been going on longer than expected," says Teshome. "But we are going to work with Nigeria and reinfected African countries, like Sudan, to eradicate the disease. My hope is that we are going to be doing an aggressive job to close this chapter for good."

In addition to Ethiopia, seven other countries — Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen — held jointly planned, large-scale immunization campaigns in October.

Learn more about Rotary's role in the worldwide polio eradication effort.