Bill Gates supports Rotary in Polio Eradication Campaign
Published by Nonsuch Rotary on January 26, 2009 at 5:37 pm.
Whilst most of Nonsuch Rotary’s activities are focused on the local community, Rotary is an international organisation and all clubs also support international activities.
Rotary’s largest initiative is the eradication of polio and over the last twenty years tremendous advances have been made.
In continuing this effort the Gates Foundation announced on 21st January 2009 that it is awarding a $255 million challenge grant to Rotary, which Rotary will match with $100 million raised by its members over the next three years. At the same time, the United Kingdom government is giving an additional $150 million (£100 million) and Germany is giving an additional $130 million (€ 100 million), both to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Launched in 1988, the GPEI - spearheaded by Rotary, the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF - has reduced the number of polio cases by 99 percent over the past two decades, from more than 350,000 cases in 1988 to an estimated 1,600 in 2008.
The GPEI partners will use the new polio eradication funds to support a range of activities, including:
Rotary’s largest initiative is the eradication of polio and over the last twenty years tremendous advances have been made.
In continuing this effort the Gates Foundation announced on 21st January 2009 that it is awarding a $255 million challenge grant to Rotary, which Rotary will match with $100 million raised by its members over the next three years. At the same time, the United Kingdom government is giving an additional $150 million (£100 million) and Germany is giving an additional $130 million (€ 100 million), both to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Launched in 1988, the GPEI - spearheaded by Rotary, the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF - has reduced the number of polio cases by 99 percent over the past two decades, from more than 350,000 cases in 1988 to an estimated 1,600 in 2008.
The GPEI partners will use the new polio eradication funds to support a range of activities, including:
- National Immunisation Days, when countries aim to immunise every child under five years old with oral polio vaccine
- Supplemental immunisation activities focused on providing extra vaccinations to children in high-risk areas
- Research into new vaccines and ways to ensure they are available to vulnerable children
- Surveillance activities to detect cases of polio so that progress can be measured and outbreaks contained
Polio has been completely eliminated in the Americas, the Western Pacific and Europe, but the wild polio virus persists in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan, and imported cases from these countries threaten other developing nations. It is in these four countries that the most serious challenges exist, including vaccine effectiveness (India), low vaccination coverage rates (Nigeria), and access problems due to conflict (Afghanistan and Pakistan). Much depends on the countries themselves. Recent progress in key areas has shown that these challenges can be overcome with sufficient national and sub-national commitment.
Further information can be found here
