Film Screening: Every Last Child

revised

2015-06-07 12.06.21

2015-06-07 12.06.41

2015-06-07 12.13.56

2015-06-07 14.18.05

2015-06-07 13.37.52

2015-06-07 13.53.14

2015-06-07 13.12.45

2015-06-07 12.15.01

2015-06-07 13.11.28

2015-06-07 13.18.44

2015-06-07 13.11.48

2015-06-07 14.09.16

2015-06-07 14.01.11

The screening of the documentary “Every Last Child” not only brought us closer to ending polio through the generous donations of our guests, but also yielded a gripping discussion regarding the challenges of eradicating Polio in Pakistan.

The documentary explored the social barriers which hinder the success of polio vaccination programs in Pakistan, ultimately leading to the re-branding and reinforcement of a broader health program in order to overcome the reluctance of some communities in allowing their children to be vaccinated. Therefore, polio eradication efforts have been further revived in Pakistan and is showing promising improvement. This is a great step forward toward a polio-free world, since Pakistan has 80% of all polio cases around the world, being only one of two countries with the debilitating virus.

The event also boasted two insightful speakers: Mr. Mike Yates, current Chairman of Rotary’s Polio Committee for Northwest England who has led vaccination days in India for the past 10 years mobilizing 23 groups and over 1100 volunteers; Mr. Jonah Thompson, current Field Operations Coordinator for Team Rubicon and paramedic with over 20 years of EMS, military and government experience including the first non-UN NGO team to assit with an OPV vaccination campaign in Tacloban. Together they hold extensive experience of Polio immunization efforts in India, the Philippines and Afghanistan. Mr. Thompson reinforced the importance of community involvement and health education in order to ensure polio becomes a problem of the past. Whilst Mr. Yates ended the event on a positive note, where an important lesson is to never give up. Polio is projected to become a problem of the past by 2018, thus efforts to eradicate it and ensure it never emerges should continue unabated. This event successfully helped raise funds for the continuation of polio eradication and promoted awareness of the impact of polio and the importance of vaccination programs thanks to our guests and speakers.

The Students Unite to End Polio campaign would like to extend our most sincere thanks to our parter the UoM Pakistan Society, our speakers Mr. Mike Yates and Mr. Jonah Thompson, our event sponsors: Costa Coffee (Grafton St.), Starbucks (Nelson St.), Eighth Day Café and Ply (Northern Quarter) and of course a very special thank you to Image Nation Abu Dhabi for donating a special copy of their film for this event.

If you were unable to attend but would like to donate to this cause, please show your support by following our donation link. 100% of proceeds benefit the charitable organization Polio Plus.