Worldwide polio cases have dropped from 350,000 in 122 countries in 1988 to just 22 in two countries in 2017.
Rotary, which launched the global polio eradication campaign, plus foundations, governments and global health organizations that have joined the cause, are marking World Polio Day on Oct. 24 by recognizing this 99.9 per cent success rate, and committing to the still great challenge of finishing the job.
To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion US and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than 2.5 billion children around the world.Rotary has also played a major role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $8 billion US to the polio eradication effort.
Canada has strongly supported this campaign, pledging in 2017 another $75 million US to help eradicate polio, bringing Canada’s total contributions to roughly $640 million US.
In 1985, Rotary launched the PolioPlus campaign and then spearheaded the formation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership of national governments, Rotary International, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, Rotary has committed to raising $50 million US per year over the next three years in support of global polio eradication efforts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match Rotary’s commitment with a further $100 million US per year.
World Polio Day was established on Oct. 24 by Rotary International to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who in 1955 led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.
Rotary International, with 1.2 million business and professional leaders as members in 35,000 clubs in 200 countries – the three Rotary clubs in Delta among them -- is the world’s first non-profit service organization, and one of the largest, serving local communities and providing worldwide humanitarian service and building goodwill and peace in the world.
submitted photo
An oral polio vaccine is given to a girl to prevent her from contracting the crippling disease.
