The Department of Sociology, Wits University
and the
Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn
invite you to the 2nd Annual Rotary Lecture:
South Africa’s Democracy and Human Rights:
Progress and Challenges
Dr. Pregs Govender
South African Human Rights Commission, Deputy Chairperson
Wednesday, 3rd October 2012
Venue:
Wits University, Southwest Engineering Building, Ground Floor, Room 10.
Safe Parking at Yale Road, Wits
Time:
5:30pm for 6:00pm
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Johannesburg, New Dawn and the Faculty of Humanities, University of the
Witwatersrand
Don't forget our Lecture. This is the third one we have sponsored, the second at Wits. It was well worth attending last year and there is nothing more pleasant than listening to a lecture with a glass of wine in your hand!
It was a great pleasure to see our former member Bert Ettekoven especially come to visit us on one of his flying visits from Delft.
We'll be having a talk by one of his former colleagues at one stage on the whole issue of Social Housing in South Africa.
Business Meeting
This week's meeting is a Business Meeting so we will hear of golf day progress amongst other things.
Please continue to add to our list of Fourballs. Don't forget to bring a bottle for the wheelbarrow and continue your search for prizes. Don't leave it to the last minute.
Rotary Family Health Day
This is something we have to be thinking about for next year:
The Vision for 2013 and Beyond for Rotary Family Health
Day (RFHD)
Because of the huge success of the RFHD for
two years, RFFA and TCCAF (The Coca Cola Africa Foundation) share a bold vision
to make this into a Pan African event over the next five years, with
implementation in the most vulnerable countries in sub-Saharan Arica. The program model will be a comprehensive,
holistic offering of health care services that include prevention of both
infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. RFFA and TCCAF and Rotary are promoting
healthy lifestyles and are inviting other organizations to become involved.
For 2013, the three countries will be
Uganda, Nigeria (Lagos) and all of South Africa. The date of the event is May 9 – 11,
2013.
TCCAF will be providing RFFA and Rotary
clubs with mobilization funds for all three countries. The Coca-Cola Business Units will work with RFFA to create a solid media
plan for each country that will support attendance at the event and bring
awareness to the people of the important free health care services being
provided.
The various Coca-Coca bottlers
will help by providing beverage support at the testing sites.
Delta Airlines will once again be an important support
partner by providing funding and complimentary air travel.
The goals and objectives of the Rotary Family Health Day are compatible
to the goals of the U.S. Government’s PEPFAR program (President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief.) Therefore, RFFA has requested the country offices of USAID and CDC in all
three countries to partner
on this event by requesting the NGOs in their country to provide technical
services at this event.
The goals of the 2013 Rotary Family Health
Day are to have 400 sites between the three countries and provide HTC and other
health care services for 105,000 people.
Rotarians believe that they can make a
difference in disease prevention, such as
HIV, Malaria, Polio, Diabetes and other health issues, through the
large-scale, comprehensive Rotary Family Health Day initiative. We welcome the support of governments, NGOs
and private sector companies
in our endeavor to make a difference in the health of the African people.
The events is scheduled to take place from 09 - 11 May 2013. Currently the event
is open for participation for Rotary clubs residing in South Africa only for
the 2013 event. For that matter, 63 sites will be established to conduct the
Rotary Family Health Days.
Clubs are requested to support the event and DGPRs and AGs will be available
to provide support. A plenary meeting is scheduled on 20 October 2012 to
deliberate on the plan of action and responsibilities. Further communication
will be sent to you after this meeting. Attached is a high level presentation on the event and the vision from 2013 and beyond regarding the event. We realize that this might be a big task for many clubs but at the same time we believe that this is probably a high level event that is in partnership and collaboration with major donors and includes government that we dearly need.
The Rotary Family Health Days are a major happening for Rotary in Africa as you will notice from Nigerai and Uganda experiences and they will be of great value to Rotary and our efforts in our region/district. Please be at liberty to share the information with your club members.
Rotary commits additional US$75 million to help end polio
RI General Secretary John Hewko, International PolioPlus Committee Vice Chair John Germ, Canadian Rotarian and polio survivor Ramesh Ferris, and Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Wilfrid Wilkinson at the UN event on polio eradication. Wilkinson is holding the petitions signed by visitors to Rotary's polio advocacy website.
Rotary International on Facebook
Rotary International has made a new funding commitment of US$75 million over three years to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Rotary, which has already contributed nearly $1.2 billion to the GPEI, announced the commitment at a 27 September high-level side event on polio eradication, convened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The side event -- “Our Commitment to the Next Generation: The Legacy of a Polio-free World” -- brought together leaders of the remaining endemic countries, and representatives of donor governments, development agencies, the GPEI partners, and the media to underscore the urgent need to finish the job of global polio eradication. Although the wild poliovirus is endemic only in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria, other countries are still at risk for re-established transmission of the virus through its “importation” from the endemics.
Ban urged UN member states to ramp up their support for the GPEI, launched in 1988 by Rotary, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The partnership now includes the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations Foundation.
“This decisive moment is a matter of health and justice. Every child should have the right to start life with equal protection from this disease. That’s why I have made eradicating polio a top priority for my second term as Secretary-General,” said Ban.
New donors
“Governments need to step up and honor their commitments to polio eradication if we are to achieve our goal of a polio-free world,” said Wilfrid Wilkinson, chair of The Rotary Foundation. “We are at a true tipping point, with success never closer than it is right now. We must seize the advantage by acting immediately, or risk breaking our pledge to the world’s children.”
“The evidence is clear: if we all do our part, we can and will end this disease. But we must act quickly and give ourselves the very best chance to succeed,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the leading donors to the GPEI. “When we defeat polio, it will motivate us to aim for other great health and development milestones.”
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), a new donor to the polio eradication effort, announced a US$227 million loan to Pakistan, which will cover the majority of the county's polio vaccination campaign costs. The IDB also announced a $3 million grant for polio activities in Afghanistan.
In addition, Julian Fantino, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation, announced a “Three for One Polio Challenge Initiative” with Rotarians in Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Through the initiative, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Gates Foundation will each contribute to the GPEI C$1 for every $1 raised by Canadian Rotarians up to $1 million. Upon completion, the initiative would generate a total of $3 million for the GPEI.
These additional funding commitments follow action taken in May by the World Health Assembly, which declared polio eradication a “programmatic emergency for global public health.” Polio cases have plummeted by more than 99 percent since 1988, when the disease infected about 350,000 children a year. Although new polio cases are at an all-time low -- fewer than 150 worldwide in 2012 as of 19 September – the $790 million funding shortfall through 2013 has already curtailed scheduled immunization activities in polio-affected countries. If eradication fails and polio rebounds, up to 200,000 children a year could be paralyzed.
“Failure to eradicate polio is unforgiveable, forever. Failure is not an option. No single one of us can bring this long, hard drive over the last hurdle. But together we can,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
Unwavering commitment
Rotary and its GPEI partners have reached more than 2.5 billion children with the oral polio vaccine, preventing more than 8 million cases of paralysis and hundreds of thousands of pediatric deaths. Rotary’s chief responsibilities in the initiative are fundraising and advocacy, an increasingly important role as the polio end game draws near.
Earlier this month, Rotary launched a new website to garner greater support for the global polio eradication effort. More than 6,000 visitors signed a petition on the site calling for world leaders to commit additional resources to close the funding gap. Wilkinson presented the signatures on Rotary’s behalf during the UN polio eradication side event. Visitors to the site can also estimate the potential dollar value they can generate by sharing the polio eradication message through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.
“The unwavering commitment of Rotary members has been vital to the incredible progress of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative,” said Wilkinson. “How critically important it is for the global community to seize this historic opportunity before us to end polio now."
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