End Polio Now

We believe that the world is on the brink of seeing "the very last case of polio"

Rotary International has been focusing on eradicating the disease for almost 40 years.

Forty or so years ago, there were 1,000 cases of polio a day in 125 countries.

In 1985, Rotary International launched a public health campaign which led to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative joining forces with UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the US and more recently the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Since then the organisation has raised $1.6 billion with the help of 1.2 million volunteers globally, including around 47,000 in the UK. The campaign is now on the verge of completion with hopes that we will soon see the last ever case of the disease.

Polio is a serious viral infection causing temporary or permanent paralysis, which can be life-threatening. Among those to have suffered are television chef Mary Berry, golfer Jack Nicklaus and singer songwriter Joni Mitchell. But there have been no new cases in the UK since 1984 following a programme of routine vaccination.

Eradicating the last few cases is a big challenge as they are in countries where transporting and delivering the vaccine is often disrupted by civil war, conflict and local hostility

Despite this, the number of cases is falling dramatically due to fantastic work from Rotarians around the world.