PolioPlus
Since the PolioPlus program’s inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received oral polio vaccine. But Rotary’s work is not done. The disease has not yet been eradicated worldwide yet. Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge was the Rotary Foundation’s response to the two grants totaling $355 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help eradicate polio. Every dollar given to PolioPlus was counted toward the $200 million match, which was completed June 2012. Through the End Polio Now: Make History Today fundraising campaign, the Gates Foundation is matching two-for-one every new dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication, up to $35 million per year, from 2013 through 2018. The PolioPlus program is not done and your contribution to End Polio Now will help get us that much closer…. we are this close!!
STATUS REPORT: 99% POLIO FREE! Only two countries in the world remain with the dreaded disease: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Polio cases have declined rapidly since 1985, but the fight isn’t over. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, and for as little as US$0.60, a child can be protected against the virus for life. If we don’t finish the fight right now, more than 10 million children under the age of five could be paralyzed by polio in the next 40 years.