Local Rotarians observe World Polio Day
Paso Robles Rotary Club donates $2,750 to fight polio
The Paso Robles Rotary Club recognized World Polio Day at its Thursday meeting with all 110 members pledging $25 each to help end polio. The $2,750 contribution will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation resulting in $8,250 going to the cause of eradicating polio. Thanks to Rotary International and its global partners polio infections have been reduced by 99 percent since 1979.
Polio cases have continued to decline rapidly since that year when children in the Philippines were immunized through Rotary’s new program. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, and for as little as 60 cents, a child can be protected against the virus for life. In 1985, Rotary launched Polio Plus, the largest internationally coordinated public health initiative. At the time, 1,000 new cases a day were reported. By 2012, this number dropped to less than one person per day. The effort to end polio is led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which includes active partner Rotary International, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and world governments.
World Polio Day aims to celebrate the life and work of Jonas Salk, the inventor of the first polio vaccine in 1955. In 1988 Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine that is used today.
Rotary is an international service organization of 1.2 million business owners, managers and community leaders in 34,200 clubs around the world. Its goal is to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. The Paso Robles Rotary Club meets every Thursday at noon at the Paso Robles Inn Ballroom.
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