All Rotarians - spread the news

Here is an article published today in Time magazine entitled:

The Final Battle Against Polio?

It comments on the recent attacks on volunteers working in Pakistan by stating:

"Using children as viral suicide bombers this way is a new — and grotesque — form of bio-terrorism, and the world, for now at least, is not standing idly by. After the December killings, Pakistani officials pledged to continue with the country’s plans to deploy 250,000 health care workers to vaccinate 35 million children this year. The governments of Nigeria and Afghanistan have similarly vowed to see the eradication drive through to its end, as have the U.N. and the other institutions involved in the battle. The Islamic Development Bank has put fresh money behind the  push, donating $227 million to the vaccine program in Pakistan in particular. This is on top of the billions already provided by Rotary and the Gates Foundation alone."

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/03/the-final-battle-against-polio/#ixzz2GzqG9BAP

 

Please share with your own networks.

Visit Rotary’s new polio website and help us make history

Click on the image to visit the new web site

Robert S. Scott (Chair, Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee) invites us all to visit the new Polio Plus web site

He writes:

Greetings,

We are “this close” to making history by eradicating the crippling disease polio once and for all. We are at a true tipping point: case counts have never been lower, the number of countries affected has never been fewer—the time to beat polio is now. Only smallpox has ever been eradicated, and we will make history again by vanquishing polio.

But to achieve a polio-free world, Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative need your support to spread the word. Together, we must educate and activate individuals, organizations, and most importantly, governments, to keep up the fight to end polio now.

Click here to visit the new web site

Robust and coordinated digital outreach is necessary to reach our goal.  For that reason we created a virtual home—endpolionow.org-- where people can rally together to finish the fight to end polio. This website is available in English now, with other languages to follow.

Read more here ...

The End Game for Polio

By Washington Post Editorial Board, Published: June 15

THE WORLD IS closer than ever to eradicating the polio virus. When the effort began in 1988, the disease was endemic in 125 countries, but now just three remain: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In recent months, there have been fewer cases in fewer districts of fewer countries than at any time in history. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said recently that the battle against polio is at a “tipping point between success and failure.”

Washington Post Editorial