Polio Eradication

• Africa is poised to becertified polio-free on 26th August 2020
• There are three types of polio-types 1, 2 and 3. Type 2 was certified eradicated in 2015. Type 3 will likely be certified eradicated in 2020.
• To date, 18 million lives have been saved because of polio eradication efforts.

The number of vaccine derived polio has dropped significantly. The effort is now the phasing  out of  the trivalent oral vaccine in favour of the  bivalent inoculations as the main preventative immunisation. This is highly unlikely to cause polio, but is more expensive to produce and, to vaccinate, requires training. Much more funding will be required by 2019 if we are to finish the job.

As Rotarians we have a responsibility to support the on-going work that will finally eradicate polio.  We have been asked to contribute $35 million annually and when we do, the Gates Foundation is contributing $2 for every $1 we raise to realise a total of $105 million each year.

The reality of vaccination in Afghanistan!

There are some 1.2 million Rotarians world-wide so the personal commitment amounts to only $29 per Rotarian per year - about £22, or £1.90 per month, and what else can you buy for £1.90 that will have such a long-lasting effect?

So, good reasons to end polio?

• To fulfil our promise to the children of the world.
• To improve lives. 16 million people are walking today who woul otherwise be paralyzed.
• To invest in our future.  If polio isn’t eradicated more children could be paralyzed. A polio free world will be a far safer place for children everywhere.
• To improve child health. Polio surveillance networks and vaccination campaigns also monitor other health problems where vitamin deficiency and illnesses, like measles, can be addressed later.
• To save money. It is an investment and the global economy could save billions in health care.
• To make history. The eradication of polio will be one of history’s greatest public health achievements following the eradication of smallpox to be only the second human disease banished from the face of the earth.

About our End  Polio Now campaign

Polio is the shortened name of poliomyelitis, the crippling disease caused by the polio virus. One in 200 cases results in paralysis, which leads to the limbs of the victim becoming limp and disfigured. The paralysis is almost always irreversible. Historically, polio has been the world's greatest cause of disability.

The road to almost zero has been a long one–and a lot of the credit has rightly gone to us in Rotary International, when we made polio eradication our mission in 1979. That year the we began a five-year campaign to vaccinate upwards of 6 million children in the Philippines. In 1988, Rotary joined hands with UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to form the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 

In 2007 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation came aboard. In a partnership spanning a decade, Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a further commitment of up to $450 million to support the eradication of polio. Along with the other Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners, activities include immunisation and surveillance over the next three years. Rotary, including matching funds from the Gates Foundation, has donated more than $1.6 billion to polio eradication.

“The vision of eradicating polio began with Rotary, and its support of that effort has been unwavering for more than 35 years,” said Gates. “Rotary’s commitment to raise $150 million over the next three years to end polio forever is a testament to the compassion, generosity, and kindness of more than a million Rotarians around the world.”

Today more than  2.5 billion children have been vaccinated worldwide at a cost of over $15 billion.