Local Rotary Members Committed To Cure Polio By 2015

For 20 years, Rotary clubs have remained determined to do whatever is necessary to achieve a world free of the crippling disease polio; however polio is still a threat to all concerned. 

Through a united effort between the United Nations, World Health Assembly, and the Gates Foundation, the global campaign is striving by 2015 no child in the world will be paralyzed by the disease and by 2018 polio will be wiped out. The campaign’s success will be the template to eliminate other diseases.

“When Rotary first started the fight against polio in 1988, the disease affected 350,000 people each year in 125 countries. Since then, polio has been reduced by 99 percent,” said Newtown resident Brian Amey, who is governor of Rotary District 7980. “We are this close to ending polio. India, long regarded as the nation facing the greatest challenges, has been polio-free for 18 months, which should give hope to the world that the disease can be eliminated even under the toughest conditions.”

Today there are only three countries where the polio virus has not been stopped — Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. Rotary International, the biggest and earliest supporter, has already given $1.2 billion to eradicate polio and announced a new contribution of $75 million over the next three years.

Earlier this year, Rotary raised $228 million in new money for polio eradication in response to a $355 million challenge grant from the Gates Foundation, which promptly contributed an additional $50 million in recognition of Rotary’s commitment.

Rotary’s chief responsibilities in the initiative are fundraising and advocacy, a role of increasing importance as the end game draws near. Sixty-one Rotary clubs in Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex and New London Counties have embraced this effort.

This month, the clubs will be engaging social media tools like Facebook and Thunderclap to raise awareness of the fight to end this crippling disease. In addition, these clubs have provided an army of volunteers to promote and assist at national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy in a Proclamation has proclaimed the week of October 22–28 as End Polio Now Week and October 24 as World Polio Day. Rotary and its partners have reached more than 2.5 billion children with the oral polio vaccine, preventing more than five million cases of paralysis and hundreds of thousands of pediatric deaths.

To learn how to help end polio once and for all, visit rotary.org/endpolio or find more information at the local Rotary club website, www.rotary7980.org.