World Polio Day

It’s World Polio Day!

Rotary International and our global charity, The Rotary Foundation, have been at the forefront of the fight against polio since 1979.

Working in partnership with the World Health Organisation, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Unicef, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, this global campaign has succeeded in reducing cases of wild polio virus from 350,000 / year across 125 countries in the 1980s to less than ten cases in just two countries so far in 2023.

Rotarians across the globe will be celebrating this success and reminding friends, colleagues and families that we are committed to completing the job. When we do, it will be only the second human disease to be fully eradicated.

Read more on these websites.

GPEI – Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Home | End Polio

Listen to Gordon McInally, Rotary International President, speaking about the polio eradication programme. (2min 45sec)

And from the End Polio website Resource Center | End Polio, watch this ‘zero dose children’ video (2min 30sec)