Polio is a devastating, even deadly – and utterly avoidable disease! Let us unite and draw attention to WORLD POLIO DAY and to the need to keep the children of the world safe!
Successes:
over 3 billion children immunized
21,000,000 children saved from the paralysis of polio
1.6 million lives saved thanks to polio vaccines
Current Challenges:
lowering vaccination rates allow the virus to mutate
tense political situations hinder vaccination campaigns (paralysis case in Gaza in 2024)
movement of peoples spreads the virus across the world (paralysis case in New York 2024)
30 cases of Wild Polio cases in last endemic countries Afghanistan and Pakistan this year
environmental samples positive for polio in many countries around the world
Reaffirm commitment
This week senior global health leaders met to discuss the final push to eradicate polio in a side event of the 80th United Nations General Assembly.
There is a sense of urgency to not let the current challenges let our pending success get away from us!
What can your Club do?
Raise awareness about the dangers of polio in your club and your community
Show brief videos from the websites below during your Club meeting, give polio a face!
Arrange an event to raise awareness and funds, examples:
Pints Against Polio, 6 October (Rotary Club of Semiahmoo)
PolioPlus Luncheon, 19 October (Rotary Club of White Rock)
All donations of US$100/year or more qualify for membership in our District 5050 PolioPlus Society
Bill Gates matches every dollar 2 to 1, so every $100 donation will turn into $300.
Remember: Polio is only a plane ride away!
*Did you know Actor Robert Redford, who passed away recently, contracted Polio as a child in the 1930s? The illness left him bedridden for weeks, during which time his mother read to him constantly. That experience nurtured his imagination and planted the seeds for his later interest in storytelling, film, and the arts.