Polio Plus is a global partnership of
Rotary, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the US Center for Disease Control. The
campaign has been running for 20 years and the results are astounding.
In 1988 Polio was endemic in 125 countries
But to date in 2011only 120 new cases of Polio were reported for the year and Polio is endemic
in just four countries:
Afghanistan (13 cases), India (1 case), Pakistan (33 cases) and Nigeria (8 cases).
This is due to the massive immunisation programme
of Polio Plus, which has protected more than two billion children from the disease. Without
the programme, five million children would have been disabled by the disease and 250,000 children killed.
So the aim is to make one last push, to rid
the world of Polio once and for all.
Bill
Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said: “The
extraordinary dedication of Rotary members has played a critical role in bringing polio to the brink of eradication.
"Eradicating polio will be one of the most significant
public health accomplishments in history, and we are committed to helping reach that goal." So much so that the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation has made a huge donation to Rotary to help with this final push. With your help, too, the
world can finally see the end of polio because as long as polio threatens even one child, children everywhere are at
risk.