Polio Eradication
There’s more work to be done!
 
Rotary, along with our partners, has reduced polio by 99.9% worldwide since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.  Since then, Rotarians have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries.
 
Polio is not something that only concerns the people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two remaining countries with cases of wild polio.  As was seen recently, the war in Syria has attracted fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan and caused Syria to experience cases of polio.  In today’s world, polio in the U.S. is only a plane ride away.
 
Here are the top five reasons why we need to eradicate polio:
  1. It saves lives
  2. It is achievable
  3. It’s a good investment since the cost of prevention is less than the cost of treatment
  4. It strengthens the disease surveillance network and community mobilization systems which will detect and contain other diseases as well
  5. It sets the stage for other global health initiatives
 
This is the year that we expect to eliminate all of the cases of wild polio in the world.  After that is done, we will need to continue to vaccinate children for another three years and also to eliminate the cases of vaccine induced polio.  Your help is still needed.
 
What can you do?
First of all, you can keep your club updated on the latest status of the polio eradication efforts.  Go to http://www.polioeradication.org/dataandmonitoring/poliothisweek.aspx
to see the up to date status.
 
You can show a polio video to your club
 
You can hold a polio fund raising event to raise money for polio eradication.  Download the file on Polio Fundraising Ideas under Files on the left hand side of the page.
 
You can celebrate World Polio Day on October 24, 2016.  Download the World Polio Day brochure under Files on the left hand side of the page.