End Polio Now- Part I

World Polio Day is October 24th. Our program on the 22nd will be focused on Polio Eradication.  This is the first in a series of three news stories to help increase your understanding of the challenges we are facing in this fight.

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

Polio has declined rapidly since 1985, but the fight isn't over. While polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, for as little as US$0.60, a child can be vaccinated for life. If we don't finish the fight right now, more than 10 million children under the age of five could be paralyzed in the next 40 years. Rotary raises funds to make sure every child receives access to the polio vaccine.

We are closer than ever before to ending polio. The year 2012 ended with the fewest polio cases in the fewest places in history. We have a unique opportunity to end polio, making it only the second human disease to be wiped from the globe.