The Rotary Club of Lake Nona Lunch hosted a 5th Annual World Polio Day event on Oct. 24. The message: One Day, One Focus: Ending Polio.
What Is Polio?
Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. Most know it as poliovirus. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system and, in some instances, lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine – one which Rotary and its partners use to immunize more than 2.5 billion children worldwide.
Rotary Vs. Polio: A Timeline
Rotary is an international community that brings together leaders who step up to take on the world’s toughest challenges, locally and globally. The eradication of polio is one of Rotary’s longest-standing and most significant efforts. Along with its partners, Rotary has helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries. Polio cases have been reduced by 99.9 percent worldwide, and Rotary won’t stop until he disease is gone for good.
Why End Polio?
To end polio, we must stop transmission of the virus in the three countries where it remains endemic: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. We must also keep all other countries polio free until we’re certain it won’t resurface. Up to 60 high-risk countries still operate large-scale immunization campaigns to protect children against polio.
Top Five Reasons to End Polio:
1. To Improve Lives 16 million people are walking today who would have otherwise been paralyzed.
2. To Invest in the Future
If polio isn’t eradicated, within 10 years, as many as 200,000 children could be paralyzed by it each year.
3. To Improve Child Health
Polio surveillance networks and vaccination campaigns also monitor children for other health problems such as vitamin deficiency and measles so they can be addressed sooner.
4. To Save Money
A polio-free world will save the global economy $40-$50 billion in health costs within the next 20 years.
5. To Make History
Polio eradication would be one of history’s greatest public health achievements, with polio following smallpox to become only the second human disease eliminated from the world.
In June, Bill Gates spoke to 22,000 attendees at the Rotary International Convention held in the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, highlighting the extraordinary progress that’s been made toward a polio-free world along with challenges ahead. Gates reinforced the message to the audience that the effort must continue and be strengthened before polio cases can be reduced to zero. Calling the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) the “single most ambitious public health effort the world has ever undertaken,” Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reviewed the historic milestones of the fight. Gates praised Rotary for being the catalyst and visionary partner for ending the paralyzing disease worldwide. “Rotary laid the foundation with its unwavering sense of purpose and its belief that anything is possible if you put your mind and body to it,” he said.
Gates noted that more than 16 million people who would otherwise have been paralyzed by polio are walking today. “The scale of this effort is phenomenal,” he added. “Polio is the thing I spend the most time on. Every day, I look at my email to see if we have a new case,” Gates said. “I’m very inspired to be a part of this. I’m also very humbled.” Rotary rocks!
Ways to Help:
Be informed about polio.
Share the information with friends, family, community partners.
Donate to end polio now ( https://www.endpolio.org/donate).
The Rotary Club of Lake Nona Lunch would like to thank all community partners for participating in World Polio Day, Marriott, Lake Nona Town Center, and Simply Maurita for designing a World Polio Day candle.
