Rotary International has announced in the run up to World Polio Day on 24 October that the effort to eradicate polio is to receive an additional US$44.7m. The funds will support the immunisation programmes, surveillance and research led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which aims to end the disabling viral disease worldwide by 2018. This follows hot on the heels of the news that Rotarians in Great Britain, Ireland and around the world have raised US$100m since the start of the year to support polio eradication.
Polio is set to become the second human disease ever to be eliminated from the world since the elimination of smallpox. To date Rotary has helped 193 countries stop the transmission of polio through mass immunisation of children. Rotary’s new funding commitment targets countries where children remain at risk of contracting this incurable, but totally vaccine preventable, disease.
President of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland, Peter King said: “It is fitting that this round of Rotary grants coincides with World Polio Day, which we use to raise awareness and support for the global campaign to end this terrible disease. Rotary is committed to relegating polio to the history books and we welcome everyone’s support as we move ever closer to our goal of a polio free world.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vfPwN1mDWY
