 In 1985 Rotary launched the PolioPlus program to protect children
worldwide from the cruel and fatal consequences of polio. In 1988,
the World Health Assembly challenged the world to eradicate polio.
Since then Rotary has been a partner with the World Health Organization,
the United Nations Children's Fund, the United States Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention, and governments around the world
to achieve this aim.
But it really all started in 1979 with a five-year commitment
to provide and help deliver polio vaccine to six million children
in the Philippines. It was the first project of the new Health,
Hunger, and Humanity (3-H) programme. In the next four years, similar
five-year commitments were approved for Haiti, Bolivia, Morocco,
Sierra Leone, and Cambodia.
Compared to 1985 there has been a 99% reduction in the number
of cases of polio worldwide but the fight is not over, though the
end is tantalisingly close. Polio is now endemic in only four countries
worldwide – India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Click here to
be directed to the PolioPlus pages on the Rotary International
website where you will be able to read the latest news and discover
how Rotarians and clubs can help bring the campaign to a successful
conclusion. |
