Ending a disease is a massive effort and Rotary and our partners can’t do it alone. Learn how you can join us in our efforts to end polio.
Donate Your Funds
We’re closer than ever to eradicating polio but we’re not done yet. We still need funds to continue immunizations and surveillance efforts. Your gift will get us closer to the finish line.
Donate Your Voice
We need your voice to help us end polio now. Get involved and spread the message so that we can end the second human disease in history.
Rotary Action Groups are independent, Rotary-affiliated groups made up of people from around the world who are experts in a particular field, such as economic development, peace, addiction prevention, the environment, or water.
Action groups offer their technical expertise and support to help clubs plan and implement projects to increase our impact, one of Rotary's strategic priorities. This support includes helping clubs find partners, funding, and other resources. Action groups can also help clubs and districts prepare grant applications, conduct community assessments, and develop plans to monitor and evaluate their projects.
Anyone who wants to share their expertise to make a positive difference can join an action group. Only Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Rotary Peace Fellows can serve in leadership roles.
Contact or join a Rotary Action Groupto:
Get expert advice on planning and implementing service projects, including those funded by Rotary Foundation district and global grants
Connect with potential project partners, both within and outside of Rotary
Get help fundraising and obtaining resources for projects
Join a Rotary Action Group to share your expertise and make a difference in projects outside your club or district. To get involved, look at our directory and contact the action group you're interested in.
Get more involved in areas that interest you, your friends and family.
The recent detection of the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 case in New York, USA, and isolates in several environmental samples collected in London are stark reminders that as long as polio exists anywhere, it is a threat everywhere. It also highlights the importance of vaccination as the only form of protection against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases and the work that needs to be done in our communities to encourage the uptake of vaccines. Also, as the world gets closer to zero wild poliovirus cases, it is increasingly important to track all forms of the virus wherever they may appear, including in polio-free regions.
The U.S. is still considered low risk for paralytic outbreaks of polio due to the high level of vaccine coverage across the population. If a child has received the entire course of vaccines, the risk of becoming paralyzed by polio is negligible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 92.6% of children aged 24 months are fully vaccinated against polio, slightly below the 95% World Health Organization target.
The best things countries can do to protect themselves from polio until the disease is eradicated from the world are to: maintain high vaccination coverage and robust disease surveillance and be ready to respond in the event of an outbreak to minimize the risk and consequences of polio re-introduction or re-emergence anywhere.
The world currently has a unique opportunity to stop virus transmission for good. Still, all parties, including donors and country governments, must re-commit to polio eradication by fully supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) 2022-2026 strategy. This focuses on adopting an emergency posture while generating greater accountability and ownership from country governments to eradicate wild polio and end variant poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks.
Rotary, a global service organization with over 1.4 million members, has been at the center of the worldwide effort to eradicate polio for over three decades. Every year, through our funding partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary commits $150 million to the global effort to eradicate polio. We have contributed more than $2.6 billion and countless volunteer hours to end polio forever.
Together with our partners, we engage communities everywhere to encourage high vaccination rates, immunizing over 400 million children annually. More than 20 million people are walking today who otherwise would have been paralyzed because of our efforts and those of our partners in the GPEI.
The time for urgent action is now. A new vaccine has been deployed – novel oral polio vaccine 2 (nOPV2) – which is more genetically stable to stop outbreaks of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus effectively. With sustained political and financial commitments, the GPEI is confident that we can achieve a world in which no child is paralyzed by polio again.
Rugby Dunsmore Rotary Club have started a free initiative where those who want to make a difference to climate change can come together.
By George Bicknell, Published Date: January 24, 2022
Rotary World Savers is an encyclopaedia of environmental actions, backed up by informative articles, that anyone can do to help ‘save the world’.
The initiative, facilitated by Rugby Dunsmore Rotary Club (RDRC), shares one positive action per week, providing a clear direction on how we can all have a positive impact on the environment.
The idea came about when RDRC President Mike Folly discovered David Head’s website www.365actions.org which published an action per day to help individuals to alleviate the effects of mankind on climate change during 2021.
"The need for climate change is the most pressing and urgent issue facing mankind at present.”
The club saw how David’s amazing idea could be taken to a wider audience to increase its impact which lead to David joining the club and rolling 365actions.org into 2022 as Rotary World Savers.
The project brings together like-minded people who are concerned about climate change, and answers the question ‘what can I do about climate change, plastic, and other environmental issues?’
There are actions for children, families, schools, house owners and landlords and businesses, with articles covering everything from recycling tips to larger projects but concentration is mainly on simple things everyone can do at little or no cost. The first action of this year was published on the 5th of January and there will be new action’s published every Wednesday.
There is no charge or long-term commitment that comes with joining Rotary World Savers, it’s just a place where people who want to make a difference can come together and feel they are contributing to a better future.
Mike Folly said: “It’s probably the most valuable present anyone can give to everyone at the moment! The need for climate change is the most pressing and urgent issue facing mankind at present, we all know it, but seem powerless to do anything about it as individuals!
“By becoming a Rotary World Saver we can find out more about how we can help and by taking action along with other like minded people we will make a difference. And as our critical mass grows, we will gain a very powerful voice that everyone will need to listen to carefully!”
Mike also revealed that The Hinckley & Rugby Building Society have stepped up to be the project’s s lead sponsor and supporter: “Without them we could not have got this project on the road. Their support and help are invaluable and their mission to become an environmentally friendly organisation is an example to any business!”
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