Members of the public were told about Rotary’s fight against polio.

President Paddy Ansell said she was horrified to hear that many parents who spoke to her, admitted that they were not sure whether or not their children had been vaccinated against polio.

Fast Facts about Polio and Rotary’s fight against it: 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began, polio paralysed more than 1000 children worldwide every day.

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Since then, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized against polio thanks to the cooperation of more than 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, backed by an international investment of more than US$ 11 billion.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private funding source of the GPEI and matches all donations to Rotary for polio 2-to-1, up to $35 million per year.

There are now only 3 countries that have never stopped polio transmission (Afganistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) and global incidence of polio cases has decreased by 99%.

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However, tackling the last 1% of polio cases has still proved to be difficult. Conflict, political instability, hard-to-reach populations, and poor infrastructure continue to pose challenges to eradicating the disease.

Each country offers a unique set of challenges which require local solutions.

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Thus, in 2013 the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched its most comprehensive and ambitious plan for completely eradicating polio. It is an all-encompassing strategic plan that clearly outlines measures for eliminating polio in its last strongholds and for maintaining a polio-free world.