World Polio Day, October 24: Rotary and Gates Foundation Continue the Fight to End Polio
Rotary’s global campaign reminds us that as long as polio exists anywhere, it’s a threat to children everywhere.
ELLICOTTVILLE - Polio was once one of the most feared diseases in the United States. Before polio vaccines became available in the 1950s, polio paralyzed more than 15,000 people each year in the U.S. Thanks to widespread polio vaccination, wild polio has been eliminated - with no cases occurring in the country since 1979.
Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have continued their longstanding partnership to end polio, with their joint commitment of up to $450 million to support the global polio eradication effort.
“We’ve made tremendous progress, but the world is facing multiple pandemics, and vaccine hesitancy is on the rise,” said Ian Riseley, chair of the Rotary Foundation and Past President of Rotary International. “Recent polio outbreaks in Malawi and Mozambique, plus detection of poliovirus in Israel, the UK, and the United States, prove that if polio exists anywhere, it threatens children everywhere. Partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helps us ensure that children in polio-affected countries get the lifesaving vaccines they need to be protected from polio for life.”
Rotary is committed to raising $50 million, with every dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Gates Foundation. This expanded agreement will translate into up to a total of $450 million to support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
“Eradicating polio requires the dedication and generosity of nations and individuals around the world, and Rotarians are again leading the way,” said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Wild poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries to 6 reported cases in 2021. Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2, and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and wild poliovirus type 3 was eradicated in 2020. As of 2022, endemic wild poliovirus type 1 remains in two countries - Pakistan and Afghanistan. The best way to keep people safe from polio is global vaccination.
ENDING POLIO IS COST EFFECTIVE
Polio vaccines cost as little as 10 cents (in U.S. currency) per dose. To end global polio, partners and national governments are working together to vaccinate more than 400 million children a year (from birth to age 6, a child needs to be inoculated 4 times). As polio vaccines are inexpensive, this relatively small investment can save countless children from paralysis and death.
The global goal is to eradicate polio - stopping the virus entirely - as opposed to dealing with cases and outbreaks indefinitely. Analysis shows that eradication will save an estimated $33 billion in health-related costs by the year 2100.
Rotary launched the PolioPlus program in 1985 with a promise to children everywhere that one day, they won’t have to fear being paralyzed by polio. It has been a long and challenging endeavor to contain wild poliovirus to just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And as in any marathon, the final mile of polio eradication is the most challenging. It may seem as if we are almost there, but in the case of polio, “almost” means more work needs to be done.
The Rotary Club of Ellicottville works tirelessly, not only for this cause but it also answers the needs in the Ellicottville community - some seen, some not. This community has every reason to be proud of the work our Rotary does, at home and abroad. It seems only appropriate that we salute the amazing leadership our club has had for the past six years, but especially in these last two years of exponential membership regrowth of our president, John Weismantel.
Seeming to not have enough on his plate, John also served as Assistant Governor for Area 16 for three of those years. John is one of those people who likes to go about unnoticed, yet this Paul Harris Sustaining Member has been duly recognized by the Rotary Foundation for his generous annual contributions yesterday, today, and into the future as he was invited to become a member (and committed) of the Rotary Bequest Society so his generous dollars will continue to support Rotary endeavors well into the future. Congratulations, John Weismantel. You make Ellicottville proud!