Rotarians around the world are preparing to celebrate -
WORLD POLIO DAY One Day. One Focus: Ending Polio
Saturday October 24
By the end of the 1980’s, more than 350,000 children were paralyzed by polio every year.
Today, Rotary and its partners have reduced the incidence of polio by 99.9%. However, until we see the last of the poliovirus, eradication efforts need your help with additional funding.
Today, 19 million people who would otherwise be paralyzed by polio are walking, and 1.5 million people who would otherwise have died are alive. With your generous financial support to TAKE ACTION, we can ERADICATE THIS DISEASE FOREVER.
In 1985, Rotary launched PolioPlus and in 1988 helped establish the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which today includes the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to immunize the children of the world against polio.
Polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent since 1988 and the world stands on the threshold of eradicating the disease.
To date, Rotary and our fellow members around the world have contributed more than US$2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protecting more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries.
Rotary is working to raise an additional $50 million per year, which would then be leveraged for maximum impact by an additional $100 million annually from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
These efforts are providing much-needed operational support, medical staff, laboratory equipment, and educational materials for health workers and parents.
Rotary has played a major role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
DID YOU KNOW?
Rotary is a global network of neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who unite and take action to create lasting change in communities across the globe.
There are over 1.2 million Rotary members in more than 35,000 clubs throughout the world that sponsor service projects to address such critical issues as poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy, and the environment in their local communities and abroad.
The Rotary motto, Service Above Self, inspires members to provide humanitarian service, follow high ethical standards, and promote goodwill and peace in the world.
Nothing epitomizes Rotary's mission and outreach more than PolioPlus!