Rotary Groups Rely on Polio-Fighting Experience to Wipe Out Malaria

​A member of Merrill Lynch’s investment management team in Ithaca, New York, Keefe Gorman is also a member of Rotary International. With 1.4 million Rotarians worldwide, the organization Keefe Gorman belongs to plays an important role in eradicating malaria, a disease that kills a child under five every minute.

Rotary’s experience fighting another serious disease, polio, energizes its anti-malaria campaigns. The organization takes advantage of the administrative infrastructure already in place to address polio to reach out to health workers combating malaria in Africa and Asia. Its technique of mobilizing the citizenry to take preventive measures and report cases has become known as the Rotary model. Moreover, media messages to reduce misinformation about polio have also proven effective for other illnesses. In addition, Rotary’s polio fighters know exactly which public and health officials to contact for malaria control.

Data analysis methods are also transferable. Information from Rotary-supported health workers has enabled the creation of an international database that has multiple applications. Thanks to these and other efforts, malaria has been virtually wiped out in Sri Lanka and is on the way out in Timor-Leste. Victories like these offer hope that illnesses such as polio and malaria will one day be a thing of the past.

Keefe Gorman Merrill Lynch

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