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| PolioPlus is Rotary's massive effort to eradicate poliomyelitis from the world by 2005. It was launched in 1985 with the goal of raising US$120 million to immunize the developing world’s children against polio for five years. The PolioPlus fundraising campaign that concluded in 1988 raised a record $247 million, and by 2005, Rotarians’ contributions to the global polio-eradication effort will exceed $500 million. Of equal significant has been the huge volunteers army mobilized by Rotary International. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers at the local level are providing support during National Immunization Days and mobilizing their communities for immunization and other polio-eradication activities. In 1988, Rotary joined the World Health Organization in committing itself to the eradication of polio by 2005, Rotary’s 100th anniversary year. Rotary works with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), national governments, and others, making this effort the world’s most extensive public/private health undertaking. As a result of the efforts of Rotary International and its partners, almost two billion children have received oral polio vaccine and are protected from poliomyelitis. WHO declared the Americas to be polio-free in 1994, the Western Pacific region in 2000, and the region of Europe in 2002. As of 2002, the number of polio cases had been reduced by 99 percent since 1985. Efforts are focused on eradicating the virus in the 10 remaining polio-endemic countries -- all in Africa and South Asia. Achieving eradication will be difficult (only one other disease, small pox, has ever been eradicated) and expensive (estimated total cost is nearly $3 billion). It requires polio-endemic, high-risk, and recently endemic countries to carry out National Immunization Days to immunize all children under the age of five, continuing routine immunization of children worldwide, systematic reporting of all suspected cases, rapid response to outbreaks, and establishment of laboratory networks. In 2002, a $275 million funding gap was identified as the most significant obstacle to global eradication. To help fill that gap, Rotary launched a new polio eradication fundraising campaign called Fulfilling Our Promise: Eradicate Polio, which seeks to raise $80 million during the 2002-03 year. No other nongovernmental organization has ever made a commitment of the scale of PolioPlus. It may be considered the greatest humanitarian service the world has ever seen. Every Rotarian can share the pride of that achievement. |
