
On a yearly basis the Rotary Club of San Juan Bautista donates to the End Polio Now Initiative. The Rotary Club has donated $1,500-$3,000 each year since 2010.
Why It Matters:
Every child deserves the right to walk, run, and play without fear of paralysis. Although polio is largely unknown in industrialized nations, it is a disease that still robs children of that right in other parts of the world. It is transmitted via contaminated water and food supplies, enters through a child’s mouth, and then multiplies in the throat and intestines. In a matter of hours, the polio virus can enter the brain and spinal cord, destroying the cells that enable muscles to contract and causing paralysis. In 5% to 10% of cases, the child dies.
The good news is that polio is completely preventable. Since the virus cannot live long outside the human body, the proper immunization of children can not only prevent the disease, it can eradicate it by stopping transmission of the virus.
Although polio currently circulates in only a few countries, it is a highly infectious disease and spreads rapidly. As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, children everywhere are at risk. Only the complete eradication of
polio will ensure that no child ever again suffers polio’s cruel effects.
How We Achieve It:
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is committed to achieving a polio-free world. Rotary is a spearheading partner
in the GPEI, along with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also has as a priority the eradication of polio and is working closely with the GPEI.
Where We Are Today:
Through the work of the GPEI, more than seven million people, mainly in the developing world, who would otherwise have been paralyzed, are walking because they have been immunized against polio, and more than 500,000 cases of polio are prevented each year due to the efforts of governments and the GPEI partnership. Transmission of the polio virus has been stopped in all but three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan – and the virus is being contained within
increasingly smaller geographic areas within those countries.
How Rotarians Contribute:
The Polio Plus program is Rotary’s top philanthropic priority. When Rotary launched the program in 1985, there were over 350,000 cases of polio worldwide in more than 125 countries. Since then, Rotary has worked through the GPEI to help
immunize more than two billion children and reduced the number of polio cases by 99%. By the time the world is certified polio free, Rotary’s contributions to the global polio eradication effort will exceed $1.2 billion. This constitutes nearly 14% of all contributions to the global budget through 2010 and represents approximately 66% of private sector contributions to the
initiative.
(Rotary.org: Italized content)
Why It Matters:
Every child deserves the right to walk, run, and play without fear of paralysis. Although polio is largely unknown in industrialized nations, it is a disease that still robs children of that right in other parts of the world. It is transmitted via contaminated water and food supplies, enters through a child’s mouth, and then multiplies in the throat and intestines. In a matter of hours, the polio virus can enter the brain and spinal cord, destroying the cells that enable muscles to contract and causing paralysis. In 5% to 10% of cases, the child dies.
The good news is that polio is completely preventable. Since the virus cannot live long outside the human body, the proper immunization of children can not only prevent the disease, it can eradicate it by stopping transmission of the virus.
Although polio currently circulates in only a few countries, it is a highly infectious disease and spreads rapidly. As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, children everywhere are at risk. Only the complete eradication of
polio will ensure that no child ever again suffers polio’s cruel effects.
How We Achieve It:
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is committed to achieving a polio-free world. Rotary is a spearheading partner
in the GPEI, along with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also has as a priority the eradication of polio and is working closely with the GPEI.
Where We Are Today:
Through the work of the GPEI, more than seven million people, mainly in the developing world, who would otherwise have been paralyzed, are walking because they have been immunized against polio, and more than 500,000 cases of polio are prevented each year due to the efforts of governments and the GPEI partnership. Transmission of the polio virus has been stopped in all but three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan – and the virus is being contained within
increasingly smaller geographic areas within those countries.
How Rotarians Contribute:
The Polio Plus program is Rotary’s top philanthropic priority. When Rotary launched the program in 1985, there were over 350,000 cases of polio worldwide in more than 125 countries. Since then, Rotary has worked through the GPEI to help
immunize more than two billion children and reduced the number of polio cases by 99%. By the time the world is certified polio free, Rotary’s contributions to the global polio eradication effort will exceed $1.2 billion. This constitutes nearly 14% of all contributions to the global budget through 2010 and represents approximately 66% of private sector contributions to the
initiative.
(Rotary.org: Italized content)