[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 270 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 270

 Supporting the goals and ideals of World Polio Day and commending the 
  international community and others for their efforts to prevent and 
                            eradicate polio.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 16, 2013

Mr. Kirk (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Rubio, 
  Mr. Boozman, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Begich, Mr. Isakson, and Mr. Murphy) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Supporting the goals and ideals of World Polio Day and commending the 
  international community and others for their efforts to prevent and 
                            eradicate polio.

Whereas October 24th of each year is recognized internationally as World Polio 
        Day;
Whereas polio is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects children and 
        for which there is no known cure;
Whereas polio can leave survivors permanently disabled from muscle paralysis of 
        the limbs and occasionally leads to a particularly difficult death 
        through paralysis of respiratory muscles;
Whereas polio was once one of the most dreaded diseases in the United States, 
        killing thousands of people annually in the late 19th and early 20th 
        centuries and leaving thousands more with permanent disabilities, 
        including the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano 
        Roosevelt;
Whereas severe polio outbreaks in the 1940s and 1950s caused panic in the United 
        States, as parents kept children indoors, public health officials 
        quarantined infected individuals, and the Federal Government restricted 
        commerce and travel;
Whereas 1952 was the peak of the polio epidemic in the United States, with more 
        than 57,000 people affected, 21,000 of whom were paralyzed and 3,000 of 
        whom died;
Whereas safe and effective polio vaccines, including the inactivated polio 
        vaccine (commonly known as ``IPV''), developed in 1952 by Jonas Salk, 
        and the oral polio vaccine (commonly known as ``OPV''), developed in 
        1957 by Albert Sabin, rendered polio preventable and contributed to the 
        rapid decline of the incidence of polio in the United States;
Whereas, although the United States has been free from polio since 1979, this 
        preventable disease still needlessly lays victim to children and adults 
        in several countries where challenges, such as active conflict and lack 
        of infrastructure, impede access to vaccines;
Whereas the Federal Government is the leading public sector donor to the Global 
        Polio Eradication Initiative and provides technical and operational 
        leadership to this global effort through the work of the Centers for 
        Disease Control and the United States Agency for International 
        Development;
Whereas the eradication of polio is the highest priority of Rotary 
        International, a global association founded in 1905 in Chicago, 
        Illinois, that is now headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, and has more 
        than 1,200,000 members in more than 170 countries;
Whereas Rotary International and its members (commonly known as ``Rotarians'') 
        have contributed more than $1,000,000,000 to, and volunteered countless 
        hours in, the global fight against polio;
Whereas Rotary International, the World Health Organization, the United States 
        Government, the United Nations Children's Fund (commonly known as 
        ``UNICEF''), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the United 
        Nations Foundation have joined together with national governments to 
        successfully reduce cases of polio by more than 99 percent since 1988, 
        from more than 350,000 reported cases in 1988 to 223 reported cases in 
        2012;
Whereas polio was recently eliminated in India and is now endemic only in 
        Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan;
Whereas terrorist and militant groups continue to target and murder health care 
        workers who seek to save the lives of children;
Whereas the sanctity and neutrality of health care workers must be respected, as 
        these workers deliver the most basic of life-saving interventions to 
        children and communities;
Whereas the recent polio outbreak in the Horn of Africa, comprising Somalia, 
        Ethiopia, and Kenya, continues to result in new cases of the disease, 
        exacerbating the protracted humanitarian crisis in the region and 
        highlighting the urgent need to finally eradicate polio before progress 
        is lost;
Whereas countries around the world are placing an unprecedented emphasis on 
        polio eradication, including by implementing Emergency Action Plans to 
        boost vaccination coverage in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan;
Whereas the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has developed the Polio 
        Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 (referred to in this 
        preamble as the ``Endgame Strategy'') to capitalize on the opportunity 
        to eradicate all polio disease;
Whereas the Endgame Strategy also outlines a legacy planning process to ensure 
        that lessons learned in the effort to eradicate polio, as well as the 
        assets and infrastructure built in support of that effort, are 
        transitioned to benefit other development goals and global health 
        priorities, including the continued delivery of health services to the 
        most vulnerable children in the world;
Whereas the global effort to eradicate polio is the largest internationally 
        coordinated public health effort in history, with a network of over 
        20,000,000 volunteers worldwide; and
Whereas the eradication of polio is imminently achievable and will be a victory 
        shared by all of humanity: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of World Polio Day;
            (2) commends the international community and others for 
        their efforts in vaccinating children around the world against 
        polio and for the tremendous strides made toward eradicating 
        the disease;
            (3) encourages and supports the international community of 
        governments and nongovernmental organizations in remaining 
        committed to the eradication of polio;
            (4) condemns the deplorable actions of terrorist and 
        militant groups that murder innocent health care workers who 
        are striving to save the lives of children around the world;
            (5) urges the international community of governments to 
        strengthen the support and security protection of health care 
        workers who risk their lives to provide polio vaccinations; and
            (6) encourages continued commitment and funding by the 
        United States Government and international donors to the global 
        effort to rid the world of polio.
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