The Best Chance To Eradicate Polio Is Now

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. Most know it as poliovirus. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and in some instances, lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine – one which Rotary and our partners use to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide.

Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year. Afghanistan and Pakistan ended 2021 with only 2 cases each of wild polio virus. Finally, we are on the cusp of eradicating wild polio from the world.

This presents District 7690 Rotarians with the unique opportunity to participate in the global end game of polio eradication by participating in our District wide PolioPlus Promise initiative. This initiative is simply a pledge to contribute $100 per year until polio is eradicated from the world. Each Rotarian who commits to this promise will be provided with a special PolioPlus Promise certificate and a special US mint coin that celebrates the year that the polio vaccine was discovered.

I urge you to act now through PolioPlus Promise to End Polio Now.