TRF Trustee Chair KR Ravindran In Conversation with Trustees Gulam Vahanvaty and Geeta Manek

KR RAVINDRAN The Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair

In Conversation With Trustee Gulam A Vahanvaty & Trustee Geeta Manek

08 November 2020 Event Hosted by RC Melawati, D3300 Malaysia The pride of Rotary world - KR Ravindran, The Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair together with Trustees Gulam Vahanvaty and Geeta Manek - enthralled the zoomers and others who were following the conversation live on FB, with sizzling and insightful conversation.

Also present were Rotary International Past President Rajendra Saboo; and International PolioPlus Chair, Michael MacGovern. Leadership from the host District was present and a healthy crowd of 3 District Governors; 30 Past District Governors, 8 District Governor Elects; 4 District Governor Nominees, and 1 District Governor Designate graced the occasion. They were joined by scores of presidents and members from Rotary Clubs and Rotaract Clubs from all corners of the globe.

The event garnered more than 250 participants at the Zoom session and over 400 more following via FB live from as far as Switzerland, the USA, Venezuela and Nigeria. The FB recording has since recorded almost 2,000 views and the number is increasing by the day.

President Siva Kumar Raghavan, from the host club RC Melawati delivered the opening speech and this was followed by Past District Governors Keshav Kunwar from

ABOUT Synergy Rotary friendship Alliance comprises 12 Rotary clubs from 10 countries from South and Southeast Asia. Synergy aims to: foster strong friendship among clubs across nations organise joint meetings on a scale that a single club or country cannot do progress later to international exchange programs and global Grants harness the power of the internationality of Rotary

District 3292 Nepal and Rolando “Oyan� VILLANOVA from District 3790, The Philippines introducing the guest speakers. District Governor Nominee Dr Krishna Kumar from District 3300 Malaysia delivered the closing remarks.

The event was compered by Rtn Yasmin Yusof from the host club.

Trustees Gulam Vahanvaty and Geeta Manek took their roles to the hilt by posing relevant and important questions, while the TRF Trustee Chair KR Ravindran fielded all, oozing facts and evidence with admirable composure.

The session opened with TRF Trustee Chair KR Ravindran addressing the issue on the need and relevance for PolioPlus even though polio now only exists in two countries.

He admitted that defeating Polio in Africa was a great win for humanity. "But you cannot think for a moment that when polio is eradicated from a country, that you no longer need to immunize the children. Routine immunization can only be stopped when polio is eliminated from the whole world. Thus, even while the wild polio virus circulates in only two countries, our children all over the world remain at risk because polio is just an airplane ride away."

RI DISTRICT 3201/3202 RC Kalamassery RC Cochin Harbour RC Udumalpet Central

RI DISTRICT 3292 RC Thimpu

RI DISTRICT 3220 RC Ampara

RI DISTRICT 3292 RC Dhulikel

RI DISTRICT 3271 RC Karachi

RI DISTRICT 3300 RC Melawati

RI DISTRICT 3272 RC Jalalabad

RI DISTRICT 3420 RC Semarang Kunthi

RI DISTRICT 3281 RC Dhaka Mavericks

RI DISTRICT 3790 RC Baguio Summer Capital

ROUTINE IMMUNIZATION CAN ONLY BE STOPPED WHEN POLIO IS ELIMINATED FROM THE WHOLE WORLD.

TRF Trustee Chair KR Ravindran continued that in 2019 alone nearly 400 million children were routinely immunized against polio in 40 countries. Such activities require not only money, but also advocacy.

He reiterated that, "We need to be extremely vigilant and we need to carry out unabated surveillance activities, as we are now doing in over 70 countries."

KR Ravindran also shared that as Rotary is nearing to achieving a polio free world, it has also been documenting the lessons learnt from the PolioPlus programs. In considering the next possible corporate project, he emphasised that leaders and members must be laser focus in finishing the job of polio eradication before taking on another major project.

He said, "There are many ideas being discussed and but my personal choice, which is consistent with one of WHO major strategies, would be to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary cause of cervical cancer. It is the only cancer which has a safe and effective vaccine to protect women against infection from the HPV. Each year we have 300,000 to 400,000 women succumbed to this cancer. This is a cancer that can be prevented. And that means there is a possibility of eliminating it completely."

When asked how has Covid-19 impacted TRF, KR Ravindran said, "The pandemic has truly been a baptism in crisis management. And also an exercise for leadership in making hard choices, staying calm and providing comfort, knowing that we are in unchartered waters. Yet we leaders have the obligation to take decisive actions to ensure that our organization stays resilient. " He shared that TRF has not only reacted very quickly, but more importantly, they have acted with great impact when the pandemic hit the world. "We paid out 319 Covid grants for USD7.2 million; together with more than 330-340 global grants for a total of nearly USD30 million."

The conversation that was adroitly navigated by Trustees Gulam Vahanvaty and Geeta Manek also touched on the new area of focus - Environment.

KR Ravindran punctuated the conversation on a high note that TRF remains Rotary's conduit to affecting meaningful changes when so many regular services are being disrupted.

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