THE ROTARIAN

The official magazine of Rotary is "The Rotarian". You automatically become a subscriber when you join the Club. This is a monthly publication carrying interesting articles and news of Rotary statistics and happenings around the Rotary world. There are a number of regional magazines but "The Rotarian" and a Spanish edition, "Revista Rotaria", are the official ones.

POLIOPLUS

This information would not be complete without mention of the immense undertaking of PolioPlus. In 1985 the Board of Directors of Rotary International proposed that Rotary International raise funds to buy the serum to immunize the children of the world against Polio by Rotary's 100th anniversary. A goal of US$120,000,000 was set. It was soon determined that five other children's diseases could be eradicated by immunization and that the immunizations could be carried out at the same time, hence, the beginning of POLIOPLUS. Rotary works with the World Health Organization and the national health organizations in the countries where immunization is being carried out. The target was set that the US $120 million be met by the time of the Convention in Philadelphia in June 1988. When the roll was called and the 40 Coordinators gave their individual totals the grand total came to be almost US$220,000,000; truly one of the great fund raising projects anywhere.

The immunization program is underway in most parts of the world and by January 2000 it was estimated that over two billion children had been immunized in 94 countries including 147 million children in India in a single day!. This achievement has been recognized by many governments. It is something of which we can all be proud. Through continual fund raising and interest on investments Rotary committed U.S. $500 million toward the eradication of polio by our 100th anniversary in 2005. Today, in 2023, there are only two countries where polio cases are still found - only 6 cases this year.