Pequannock Valley Rotary & Polio Eradication

 

Our local Pequannock Valley Rotary is more than just a club that supports our immediate community. We’re part of a global organization of 1.4 million Rotarians whose work has a major impact on the world. And nowhere is that impact more powerful than in the fight to eradicate polio.

 

When we began this work in 1985, polio paralyzed more than 300,000 children every year in 125 countries. Today, because of Rotary and our partners, that number has dropped to fewer than a dozen cases worldwide.

 

Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985, and since then we’ve invested over $3 billion of Rotary money into this mission. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with us every step of the way, adding another $5 billion in support. Together, Rotary and Gates have contributed roughly $8 billion toward ending polio for good.

But we’re part of a much larger global effort — the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Altogether, governments, NGOs, and partners have invested over $20 billion in the fight.

 

And here’s the amazing part:
 

Health economists estimate that preventing polio has already saved the world tens of billions of dollars in medical treatment and productivity. Some long-term studies estimate that medical-care savings alone will exceed $100 billion by mid-century.

 

But the real impact is human. Because of this work, more than 16 million people are walking today who otherwise would have been paralyzed.

We are this close to making polio the second disease in human history to be completely eradicated. But the last mile is the hardest and the most expensive.

 

So when you hear “End Polio Now,” this is what it means:
Lives saved. Futures restored. And Rotary leading one of the greatest public-health victories the world has ever seen.

To be a part of this humanitarian effort contact:  pequannockvalleyRotary.org use the contact button on the home page.