End Polio News

(with notes from www.endpolionow.org)

 

During a speech to Rotary leaders in February 1985, then Rotary President Dr. Carlos Canseco announced what he considered “the biggest news in Rotary” — the commitment to help control polio worldwide. Since that day, Rotary’s dedication to the global eradication of polio has remained constant. 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of PolioPlus and three decades of progress and challenges the program has faced.

 

In its early years, PolioPlus was dedicated to fundraising for immunization efforts. In May 1988, Rotary announced that the campaign, which aimed to raise $120 million, had raised nearly $220 million in contributions and pledges. That same year, the World Health Assembly set a goal of worldwide polio eradication and launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) with Rotary as one of its partners. At the time, polio paralyzed more than 1,000 children worldwide every single day and 125 countries were polio-endemic. The GPEI partners, which also included WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were able to boost world immunization levels from less than 50 percent in 1985 to over 80 percent in 1992.

 

In 2007, Rotary entered into a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which issued Rotary a $100 million challenge grant to raise funds for polio eradication. This partnership continued to grow, and in 2013 the Gates Foundation offered to match Rotary’s contributions for polio eradication 2-to-1 for five years (up to $35 million per year).

 

Since the launch of the GPEI, the global incidence of polio cases has decreased by 99 percent. In March 2014, India, once deemed the most difficult place to end polio, was declared polio-free, making the entire Southeast Region polio-free. But until polio is stopped in the remaining endemic areas, all countries must maintain high levels of surveillance and immunization rates to rapidly detect any importation of the poliovirus and minimize its impact.

 

Today, 99 percent of the world’s population lives in regions certified as polio-free.  Rotary International’s goal of polio eradication is closer than ever; we are “this close”!  Thanks to our work – both past and ongoing – in Rotary District 7090, we will be a part of history.  Brothers and Sisters in Rotary, let's End Polio Now!

 

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