|
Dr. Marny Eulberg, our District Polio Chair, provided an update on Rotary's current efforts in Polio Eradication. She shared the following facts. 1) By the time the world is certified Polio-Free, Rotary's contributions will exceed US $2.2 billion, including US $985 million in matching funds from the Gates Foundation. 2) The average cost to fully vaccinate one child is currently $3.00 US dollars. This includes the cost of the vaccine (4-5 doses) and all the activities to deliver the vaccine-stipends to vaccinators, vaccine carriers, chalk to mark houses after each visit and the purple dye for the child's pinky finger. 3) At present, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized with OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine) 4) There has been a 99.9% reduction in cases of polio worldwide. Since 1988 more than 17.4 million people, mainly in the developing world, who otherwise would have been paralyzed, are walking because they have been immunized. . 5) If we were to stop our efforts of vaccinating, within 10 years the world would again face 200,00 new cases EVERY SINGLE YEAR. We can't stop! Thus the important message of "WE ARE THIS CLOSE" . |
.jpg)
