Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Goodbye, Polio
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the announcement that Dr. Jonas Salk had developed a safe and effective polio vaccine. This is a special date for our world and for Rotarians across the world.
In 1985, Rotary decided to take a lead position in eradicating polio from the earth. Rotary's efforts, dubbed PolioPlus, are the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative.
During the past 20 years, Rotarians have contributed over $600 million and hundreds of thousands of manhours to immunize over one billion children. The number of polio cases has been reduced from 350,000 to fewer than 1,000 cases isolated in only six countries.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but there is also reason to have great confidence polio will be eradicated forever in the near future.
In 1985, Rotary decided to take a lead position in eradicating polio from the earth. Rotary's efforts, dubbed PolioPlus, are the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative.
During the past 20 years, Rotarians have contributed over $600 million and hundreds of thousands of manhours to immunize over one billion children. The number of polio cases has been reduced from 350,000 to fewer than 1,000 cases isolated in only six countries.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but there is also reason to have great confidence polio will be eradicated forever in the near future.
