VIDEO: Rotary Commits to Help Eradicate Polio Worldwide

After the eradication of the disease in the United States in the late 1970’s, Rotary International launched its flagship PolioPlus program in 1985.

In 1988 Rotary became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative along with the World health Association, UNICEFF, the U.S. Center of Disease Control and Prevention and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

• SEE: Eradicating Polio Around the Globe

Since 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted 99%, from 350,000 cases per year to less than 370 in 2014.More than 2.5 billion children have been immunized in 122 countries, which prevented 5 million cases of paralysis and 250,000 deaths. Polio remains endemic in three countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Also, polio has been imported into countries that were previously polio-free.

Through Rotary’s PolioPlus program more than $1.3 billion in support of the program has been donated. Rotarians have also secured over $10 billion from donor governments.

For more information on Rotary’s efforts to eradicate Polio, visit rotary.org and endpolio.org .

PHOTO: George Camp of Ossining has been fighting the highly infectious disease also called infantile paralysis for two decades. He’s chairman of Rotary International’s Polio Plus Subcommittee for Westchester, Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx and Bermuda.