"THE RANGE" Vol. 54 No. 8
Wednesday 4th September 2012
TONY LOUGHNAN 1930 - 2012
Every one associated with our Club will be saddened by the news of Tony's passing last week. Tony joined the RC of Mundingburra in 1971 with an original classification Civil Engineering. He was a member there until he moved to Maleny in 1990. He joined our Club in December 1990 and was the 141st member.
He was Secretary in 92/93 and 93/94. He received a Paul Harris Fellowship in 1987 and a Sapphire Pin in 2008.
Last year Tony decided to retire from Rotary but accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Member. He will be much missed and our thoughts are with Jill and her family at this time. Vale Tony - requiescat in pace.
THIS WEEK'S MEETING
Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker Kerry Brown on "History of the Big Pineapple".
APOLOGIES
Please tender meal apologies to Karen Binstead by noon on Tuesday.
DUTY ROSTERS
Sep 5 Sep 12 Sep 19
Duty Officer Andy S No roster Charlotte G
Registration Debra L Keith R
ADO & Scribe Keith R Andy S
Fellowship Charlotte G Debra L
SAUSAGE SIZZLE ROSTER
15th September
Rick Townsend (Leader) Andy Schouteten Chris Brooker
29th September
John McLennan (Leader) Bernice McLennan Brian Allen
LAST WEEK’S MEETING
Being a month with five Wednesdays a small, but select and exuberant, group enjoyed a BBQ dinner at the Masonic Lodge. Excellent catering was provided by Bernice & John with assistance from others including Michael Gregory's outstanding apple crumble! The formalities were brief with a call for volunteers for car parking duties at the Real Food Festival Sunday 9th September, a briefing on the 2013 calendar and reminders about the calendar photo hanging and 'Money on Maple' meetings.
The 2013 Calendar was produced locally at the Green Printery and is now out on sale. The Calendar Committee is very pleased with the product and we now have 14 selling points across the Range. Members are reminded that the calendars make great gifts and Brian Allen is happy to take a 'bulk' order!
The meeting theme was 'International', so members and partners enjoyed an Aussie BBQ and some wonderful photos from the Whan's Middle East and East European wanderings. Jeff Cornfoot talked and showed pictures about his February 'boy's own adventure' riding a Harley Davidson around parts of California, Nevada and Arizona with 8 other friends. Highlights for him were a fast ride down 'America's loneliest road' (the I50 in Nevada), a day in Death Valley and riding in formation down the Las Vegas main strip at night. The group are reasonably confident the US authorities are not looking for them!
The meeting closed at 8:45pm.
GLOBAL POLIO EMERGENCY PLAN
Despite the dramatic drop in polio cases in the last year, the threat of continued transmission due to funding and immunization gaps has driven the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to launch the Global Polio Emergency Action Plan 2012-13. The plan aims to boost vaccination coverage in the three remaining polio-endemic countries -- Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan -- to levels needed to stop polio transmission. Health ministers meeting at the World Health Assembly in Geneva adopted a resolution on 25 May that declared “the completion of polio eradication to be a programmatic emergency for global public health.”
Polio eradication activities have resulted in several landmark successes since 2010. India, long regarded as the nation facing the greatest challenges to eradication, was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February. Outbreaks in previously polio-free countries were nearly all stopped. During that same time span, however, polio outbreaks in China and West Africa due to importation from Pakistan and Nigeria, respectively, have highlighted the continued threat of resurgence. Failure to eradicate the disease could lead within a decade to paralysis of as many as 200,000 children per year worldwide.
“Polio eradication is at a tipping point between success and failure,” says Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO. “We are in emergency mode to tip it towards success -- working faster and better, focusing on the areas where children are most vulnerable.” Eradicating polio would generate net benefits of US$40-50 billion globally by 2035, with the bulk of savings in the poorest countries, based on investments made since the GPEI was formed, savings from reduced treatment costs, and gains in productivity. “We know polio can be eradicated, and our success in India proves it,” says Rotary International President Kalyan Banerjee. “It is now a question of political and societal will. Do we choose to deliver a polio-free world to future generations, or do we choose to allow 55 cases this year to turn into 200,000 children paralyzed for life, every single year?”
Global emergency action plan
The GPEI’s emergency action plan was developed in coordination with new national emergency plans. The plan builds on India’s success and outlines a range of new strategies and initiatives to better support polio eradication efforts, including:
• Intensified focus on the worst-performing areas of Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to increase vaccination coverage by the end of 2012 to levels needed to stop transmission.
• New approaches tailored to each country to tackle persistent challenges and improve polio vaccination campaign performance.
• Heightened accountability, coordination, and oversight to ensure success at every level of government and within every partner agency and organization.
• A surge of technical assistance and social mobilization capacity.
Full funding of new plan critical
Already, funding shortages have forced the GPEI to cancel or scale back critical immunization activities in 24 high-risk countries, leaving more children vulnerable to the disease and polio-free countries exposed to the risk of reintroduced transmission. “All our efforts are at risk until all children are fully immunized against polio -- and that means fully funding the global eradication effort and reaching the children we have not yet reached,” says UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We have come so far in the battle against this crippling disease. We can now make history -- or later be condemned by history for failing.”
Full implementation of the emergency action plan is hindered by a funding gap of nearly $1 billion through 2013. “We are all responsible for creating a polio-free world while we still can,” says Chris Elias, president of global development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Achieving this goal is a critical step in protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Working in emergency mode
Since the start of 2012, the GPEI has moved its operations into emergency mode. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has activated its Emergency Operations Center, UNICEF has officially activated an Interdivisional Emergency Coordinating Committee operating directly under the deputy executive director, and WHO has moved its polio operations to its Strategic Health Operations Centre. Such measures are reserved for responding to global health emergencies, such as the H1N1 pandemic and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami -- and will generate a massive surge in technical capacity, real-time tracking of program performance, and immediate implementation of corrective action plans as necessary. In March, The Rotary Foundation Trustees reaffirmed that polio eradication is the Foundation’s urgent priority. In addition, Rotary senior leaders have launched a series of one-on-one meetings with the heads of state of the polio-endemic countries.
“We need everyone’s commitment and hard work to eradicate polio and cross the finish line,” says Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of CDC. “It won’t be easy, but together we can eradicate polio forever and for everyone.”
INNER WHEEL INVITATION
Inner Wheel is the largest women's social and service club in the World, with 100 000 members. International Inner Wheel has consultative status to the United Nations, advising on issues such as: human rights, rights of children, conditions of women, family, the elderly and drugs. In Australia our national project of Cord Blood Research has raised $1 675 000.
Basically we are a friendship
group but we have a charitable focus as well. We seek to support local, Australian
and International charities and issues.
The
International Inner Wheel theme for 2012/2013 is “Be a Friend”. To celebrate
the theme the Inner Wheel Club of the Sunshine Coast is inviting any ladies who
would like to enjoy a nice meal and listen to a speaker from Buddies Refugee
Support Group to come to our September Meeting.
It is an opportunity to share fun and friendship and find out a little
more about Inner Wheel.
The monthly meeting will be on Wednesday 12th
September at the Events Centre, Minchinton St. Caloundra.
6.30pm for 7.00pm.
Cost is $25.
If you wish to attend please RSVP by
Wednesday 5th September: Meg White Ph. 54452110, Vicki Belcher Ph.
54923708 or Lesley Johnstone Ph.54456119.
Please let us know if you have any dietary issues.
FUTURE MEETINGS & EVENTS
9th Sep Real Food Festival - car parking duties.
12th Sep Board Meeting at the RSL at 7:00pm.
19th Sep Tranquil Park at 6:30 for 7:00pm for DG's visit with Partners welcome.
26th Sep Project meeting at RSL at 7:30pm - no dinner.
WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES FOR SEPTEMBER
4th John and Bernice 28th Keith and Gloria
NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT
THE PROGRSS OF TECHNOLOGY?
I was visiting my son and daughter-in-law last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.
'This is the 21st century,' he said. 'We don't waste money on newspapers.
Here, you can borrow my iPad.'
I can tell you, that bloody fly never knew what hit it...........
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