Rotary World Polio Day - Coffee Morning at Newbury Town Hall - 10am on Saturday 24th October 2026

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 45 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.

Rotary's first polio project was to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Inspired by that successful vaccination campaign, Rotary went on to become a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, which has reduced polio cases around the world by 99.9 percent.

Thanks to the generosity and commitment of our members, Rotary has contributed more than £ 2 billion in PolioPlus grants and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 3 billion children in 122 countries from this disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than £ 8 billion to the 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 paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year.