Program: Tim Mulcrone - Polio Plus
Tim Mulcrone is a three-time Club President and 32-year Rotarian from Chanhassen. He has been our District Polio Chair since 2012. Tasked with keeping Rotary’s flagship project front and center in our minds. The Polio disease started in the 1940’s and the epidemic continued into the 1950’s. Polio affects the central nervous system and infected 1 out of every 200 people.
Tim shared with us the story, mission, and ways to make an impact in the fight to eradicate polio. 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.
India has been Polio free since 2011 following a massive vaccination 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.
