In the history of mankind, only one disease, smallpox, has been eradicated from the face of the earth. Since 1988 Rotary and its partners, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, U. S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have worked to eradicate polio.
Thanks to this massive effort, the incidence of polio has plunged 99.9% from about 350,000 children being infected with this deadly and crippling disease annually to only twenty-two cases in 2017. The fight is not over until no child is impacted. Rotary has contributed $1.8 Billion to this effort. In 2018, Rotary contributed nearly $100 million.
On November 5, come to the club meeting and hear past president Pam Tubbs will talk about her experience with polio. She is a tireless supporter of Rotary’s efforts to eradicate this disease through its End Polio Now campaign.
It is easy to join this effort and to have your contribution tripled. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match 2 to 1 any contribution to ending polio through Rotary. Go to www.endpolio.org and contribute. All contributions to the PolioPlus campaign along with those to the annual fund are part of the Paul Harris Fellow designation.