Eradicating Polio
Rotary's fight to eradicate polio from this world
Playing Our Part In Eradicating Polio
Global Effort To Eradicate Polio
The fight to end polio is led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which includes Rotary International, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Gates Foundation and governments of the world, with the support of many others around the globe. See the Story of Polio.
Rotary At Work Since 1985
Rotary International, with 46,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical areas around the world, made polio eradication its top priority in 1985.
To date, Rotary has contributed more than US$ 2.1 billion, and its members have logged countless volunteer hours to help immunise more than two billion children in 122 countries.
The number of new polio cases, a disease that once paralysed more than 1,000 children every day, has dropped more than 99 percent since the 1980s. Today there only two countries in the world where Polio has not been eradicated; these being Pakistan and Afganistan. Last year, 2025, the number of cases reported in Pakistan was 31, while in Afganistan was 13.
