After 20 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are on the brink of eradicating this tensacious disease, but a strong push is needed now to root it out once and for all. It is a window of opportunity of historic proportions.

Polio is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person. Affected persons can exhibit a range of symptoms such as muscle weakness and paralysis. In 1988, polio infected nearly 1,000 children every day. In 2007, fewer than 2,000 cases were reported for the entire year.

To eradicate polio, Rotarians have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands. They’re working to ensure that children are immunized against this crippling disease and that surveillance is strong despite the poor infrastructure, extreme poverty, and civil strife of many countries. Since the PolioPlus program’s inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received the oral polio vaccine.

CONTRIBUTE TO ROTARY'S $100 MILLION CHALLENGE
Rotary's US$100 Million Challenge, a three-year fundraising commitment, is the Rotary Foundation's response to the $100 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help fight polio eradication. Every dollar given to PolioPlus during the next three years will be counted toward the $100 million match.

The PolioPlus Fund provides global-level funds through Trustee-reviewed grants to the initiative based on strategic priorities. Give now.

> visit PolioPlus website
> St Kilda Rotary Current Projects