End Polio Now

PolioPlus is the most ambitious program in Rotary’s history. In the Global Polio Eradication Initiative it is the volunteer arm. Rotary has led the private sector to rid the world of this crippling disease for over 30 years. PolioPlus is recognized worldwide as a model of public-private cooperation in pursuit of a humanitarian goal.

Over $2.1 Billion US

Rotary members have contributed to eradicating Polio.

2.5 Billion Children

in 122 countries have received the oral polio vaccine since the PolioPlus program’s inception in 1985.

Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Rotary paved the way for the formation of this initiative which was established in 1988.

1,000s of Rotarians

from around the world have volunteered for National Immunization Days to immunize children.

PolioPlus Helps Fund transportation, vaccine delivery, social mobilization, training, and more.

Eradicate Polio

Rotarians work to encourage governments to commit political and financial resources needed to eradicate polio.

Partnerships

The fight to end polio is led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which includes Rotary, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and governments of the world, with the support of many others around the globe.

Why Eradicate Polio?

To end polio, we must stop transmission of the virus in the two countries where it remains endemic: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries.

3 Polio Survivors playing

Polio Global Eradication Initiative

Launched in 1988 after the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eradicate polio, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, along with its partners, has helped countries to make huge progress in protecting the global population from this debilitating disease. As a result, global incidence of polio has decreased by 99.9% since GPEI’s foundation. An estimated 16 million people today are walking who would otherwise have been paralysed by the disease, and more than 1.5 million people are alive, whose lives would otherwise have been lost. Now the task remains to tackle polio in its last few strongholds and get rid of the final 0.1% of polio cases.

The goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is to complete the eradication and containment of all:

- Wild polio viruses

- Vaccine-related polio viruses

- Sabin polio viruses,

So that no child ever again suffers paralytic poliomyelitis.

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