The Rotary Club of Florence wants to end polio now | Local news



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FLORENCE, SC – Members of the Rotary Club of Florence continued to support the eradication of polio, with special emphasis on October 24, 2018. This is the end of polio now.

The club is accepting donations this week that will be matched at the Rotary District level and twice by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; For every dollar donated, $ 6 will be donated to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to protect children from this crippling virus.

Since Rotary International and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative 30 years ago, the incidence of polio has dropped by more than 99.9%, from about 350,000 cases per year to just 22 cases in 2017. Maintaining this progress and protecting all children To fight polio, Rotary is committed to raising $ 50 million annually to support global efforts eradication of poliomyelitis. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match Rotary's commitment to 2: 1.

In 1979, Rotary International began its fight against polio with a multi-year project to vaccinate six million children in the Philippines. In 1988, Rotary International joined the World Health Organization to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. At that time, 350,000 polio cases had been reported in 125 countries. In 2014, South-East Asia was certified polio-free and the number of polio cases was down more than 99% worldwide. At present, only three countries have reported cases of poliomyelitis: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

By the time the world is certified polio-free, Rotary's contributions to IMEP will exceed $ 2.2 billion, including $ 985 million in matching funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Rotary's contribution to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988 represents almost 14% of all contributions until June 2017 and approximately 42% of private sector contributions.

Rotary is the leading non-governmental volunteer organization contributing to the IMEP.

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