THE ROTARY CLUB OF BANBRIDGE

A GIANT ROTARY WHEEL AND THE WORDS "END POLIO NOW" was beamed onto the side of the House of Commons to the left of Big Ben on Rotary International's 103rd Birthday on Saturday, 23rd February 2008 to start a challenge to raise $100 million to help finally to eradicate polio from the world.  Polio eradication has been Rotary's top priority since 1985 and working with WHO, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International has managed to cut the numbers of polio cases by 99 per cent. The disease is now only endemic in four countries: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.  Recently, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 million to help in the Rotary campaign and Google Foundation has also just donated $3.5 million.

Rotary International is launching today a $100 Million Challenge to Rotary Clubs to match the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $100 million grant to the Rotary Foundation for polio eradication. 

Each Rotary club is being asked to contribute at least $1,000 annually to the challenge for the next three years," Dr Robert S Scott, trustee chair of the Rotary Foundation said. "If you consider there are nearly 33,000 clubs in the world, their combined fundraising efforts would result in almost the full matching amount of $100 million. The $200 million that will be generated will be a vital catalyst in support of polio eradication," "However, more will be needed to finish the job. Rotary along with its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative ¯ the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and now the Gates Foundation ¯ must continue to be advocates for donor nation support to help fund the push to finish polio once and for all.

All Rotarians are invited to participate in the challenge, especially those who have joined Rotary since June 2005, when the last commitments to the previous polio eradication funding campaign were fulfilled. Rotary clubs chartered since that time are also a special focus. "PolioPlus is Rotary's only corporate programme, and I believe that all Rotarians will want to share in the legacy of wiping out a disease that has caused so much disability and death worldwide," Scott said. He added that Rotary Fellowships, Rotarian Action Groups, Rotary Foundation alumni, Rotaractors, and Interactors are also being invited to participate.

Rotary has until 31 December 2010 to match the Gates Foundation challenge grant. A task force is also providing oversight and direction to clubs and districts. Allan Jagger President of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland is a member of the new  Rotary $100 Million  Challenge Committee. Allan said "The polio eradication grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation and the largest grant received by Rotary in its 102-year history. Polio eradication has been Rotary's top priority since 1985. Since then, Rotary has contributed $633 million to the eradication effort. The extraordinary dedication of Rotary members has played a critical role in bringing polio to the brink of eradication. I urge all Rotary Clubs in Great Britain and Ireland to support this initiative. 

Decades ago, polio outbreaks were a constant threat around the world. After the introduction of polio vaccines by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin and a steadfast immunization effort, these outbreaks became part of history in most of the world.

Yet many still live under the threat of polio, which is why Rotary and its global partners are committed to reaching every child with the vaccine and ending this disease worldwide.

Major gains have been made in the global fight against polio:

• In the 1980s, 1,000 children were infected by the disease every day in 125 countries. Today, polio cases have declined by 99 percent, with fewer than two thousand cases reported in 2006.
• Two billion children have been immunized, five million have been spared disability, and over 250,000 deaths from polio have been prevented

Wide-scale use of monovalent oral polio vaccine type 1 (mOPV1) continues to have a significant impact on curbing transmission of this particular virus serotype. It is the more dangerous of the two remaining virus types, given its historically higher disease burden and ability to spread internationally. Only three type 1 cases have been reported this year from the western part of Uttar Pradesh state, India, arguably the most historically entrenched type 1 reservoir in the world.

At the same time, no type 1 cases have been reported in Kano, Nigeria, since October 2006 – a remarkable achievement, given that Kano was the epicenter of a major international epidemic which re-infected 20 previously polio-free countries in 2003-2006.

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