Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
In June, Bill Gates dedicated an award he received from the Nigerian president to Chief Ayuba Gufwan. Paralyzed by polio at age 5, Gufwan serves as the executive secretary of Nigeria’s National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and CEO of Wheelchairs for Nigeria.
Courtesy of the Gates Foundation
In May, Bill Gates gave himself a bold new challenge and a tough deadline: to give away virtually all his wealth in the next 20 years and close up his long-running philanthropic enterprise. The Gates Foundation, one of Rotary’s partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, has already given away more than $100 billion in its first 25 years. But for the foundation to wind down fully it first needs to ramp up — in order to spend more than twice that amount before it closes its doors on 31 December 2045.
Polio remains a priority. At the 2025Rotary International Conventionin Calgary, Alberta, Rotary and the Gates Foundation announced a joint commitment to direct up to $450 million over the next three years to support polio eradication, a renewal of their long-standing partnership. Rotary will continue to raise $50 million per year, with every dollar matched with two additional dollars from the Gates Foundation.
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