World Polio Day!

October 24, 2011 is World Polio Day, an ideal time to raise public awareness of the ravages of polio and garner support for eradication efforts. October 24th, marks the birth of Jonas Salk who was the leader of the team that invented a polio vaccine in 1955. In 1988 Albert Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine.

To eradicate polio, Rotarians have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands. We’re working to ensure that children are immunized against this crippling disease and that surveillance is strong despite the poor infrastructure, extreme poverty, and civil strife of many countries. 

Polio, which can cause lifelong paralysis, can be prevented with a vaccine that costs only $0,60. In the 1980s, polio paralyzed at least 1,000 children every day all over the world, but today, after international efforts to immunize every child everywhere, 5 million people are walking who would otherwise be paralyzed and the world is almost polio-free.

The success is the result of an improved vaccine and the intense efforts over the past several years by the Global Polio Eradication Partnership, a partnership that includes Rotary International, the UN Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO. Since the Initiative’s inception in 1988, more than two billion children have received the oral polio vaccine and the number of polio cases has dropped by 99%.

Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge is 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 will be counted toward the $200 million match, which must be completed by 30 June 2012.

Help spread the word and "Like" the World Polio Day facebook page.