On Wednesday, 23 January, I woke up to a stunning view of the mountains behind my mothers house in Switzerland. I had been invited to attend the World Health Organization in Geneva as part of my work in assisting Rotary International, and the Global partners in Polio Eradication.
WHO are amazing in what they do. They are great at running public health initiatives with passion and expertise. I sat in the polio ‘war’ room where a meeting was taking place to discuss the weeks polio eradication activity, including looking at statistics for polio cases.
The 4 remaining countries where polio is still a challenge for eradication, India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, i was pleased to hear that no new cases were reported thus far in 2008. Watching and listening to the discussions, i was able to see clearly how a major UN department works from HQ, all the way down to their regional offices scattered all around the world.
The rest of the day was spent meeting key people on a one-to-one to share what i had learnt from my experience with Rotary and explore other ways in which i can help the partnerships further in the coming years.
They were very excited to learn that i fly aeroplanes and that I have recently qualified as a pilot. I am developing an event using aviation to raise awareness for the cause and help with fundraising.
I have hoped to be able to use my new found skill in aviation to do something meaningful with it. Ideas are now being focused to help build awareness, raise funds and increase success for eradicating polio.
please visit their website to learn more about WHO –
