End Polio Now / PolioPlus
The Best Chance to
Eradicate Polio is Now
Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. Most know it as poliovirus. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and in some instances, lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine – one which Rotary and our partners use to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year. Afghanistan and Pakistan ended 2021 with only 2 cases each of wild polio virus. Finally, we are on the cusp of eradicating wild polio from the world.
This presents District 7690 Rotarians with the unique opportunity to participate in the global end game of polio eradication by participating in our District wide PolioPlus Promise initiative. This initiative is simply a pledge to contribute $100 per year until polio is eradicated from the world. Each Rotarian who commits to this promise will be provided with a special PolioPlus Promise certificate and a special US mint coin that celebrates the year that the polio vaccine was discovered.
I urge you to act now through PolioPlus Promise to End Polio Now.
District 7690 PolioPlus Promise
Please sign your pledge today! 
Instructions for clubs handling donations
Contact me to schedule a PolioPlus Promise presentation to your club!
PDG Randy Perkins
District PolioPlus Chair
336-516-4331
randyperkins7690@gmail.com
OR
Tom Kobrin
District PolioPlus Co-Chair
336-558-1299
tkobrin@kobrinlegal.com
End Polio Now – Latest News!
IRON WILL – (FULL ARTICLE)
I can’t think of a more important moment than right now in the fight against polio.And that’s a good thing because it shows how much progress the world has made against polio, a terrible and now largely forgotten disease.
This metal tank is an iron lung, a mechanical respirator that saved the lives of thousands of polio victims.
Polio attacks the body’s nervous system, crippling patients. In the worst cases, the disease paralyzes their respiratory muscles and makes it difficult for them to breathe, sometimes resulting in death.
Using changes in air pressure, the iron lung pulls air in and out of a patient’s lungs, allowing them to breathe and stay alive.
During the height of the polio epidemic in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s, rows of iron lungs filled hospital wards to treat thousands of polio patients, most of them children… Full Article
AUGUST 2020 – AFRICA DECLARED FREE OF WILD POLIO IN ‘MILESTONE’
Africa has been declared free from wild polio by the independent body, the Africa Regional Certification Commission.
Polio usually affects children under five, sometimes leading to irreversible paralysis. Death can occur when breathing muscles are affected.
Twenty-five years ago thousands of children in Africa were paralysed by the virus.
The disease is now only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There is no cure but the polio vaccine protects children for life.
Nigeria is the last African country to be declared free from wild polio, having accounted for more than half of all global cases less than a decade ago. (Full Article)
AUGUST 2019
Rotary announces US$100 million to eradicate polio – Rotary is giving US$100 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
The funding comes as Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) address the final—and most pressing—challenges to ending poliovirus transmission, and as Nigeria approaches three years without any reported cases of wild poliovirus, bringing the Africa region closer to polio-free status.
“We have the wild poliovirus cornered in the smallest geographic area in history, and now there are just two countries that continue to report cases of the wild virus,” said Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. “As we work with our partners to apply innovative new strategies to reach more children, and embrace lessons learned thus far, Rotary is doubling down on our commitment to end polio for good. I’m optimistic that the end of polio is within our grasp, but we must remain vigilant in rallying global political and financial support as we push towards a polio-free world.” … Full Story
JUNE 2019
As per the last year or so, the only countries with confirmed cases of Polio are Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is focusing on reaching every last child in Pakistan with vaccines, strengthening surveillance and maintaining political commitment, financial resources and technical support at all levels. Pakistan has made important progress towards stopping polio in the country. Case numbers are the lowest they have ever been, and the immunity gaps continue to decline. However, in high-risk areas of the country, un-vaccinated children remain vulnerable.
To ensure more children than ever before are reached with the polio vaccine, the campaigns in Afghanistan must be the highest-quality in the program’s history. The focus is on reaching every child with vaccines, particularly those who have been persistently missed. Afghanistan and Pakistan must work together to stop the virus for good, with an emphasis on high-quality immunization activities and surveillance to close remaining immunity gaps and quickly find the virus wherever it is hiding
APRIL 2019
JOINING HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER – All travelers crossing the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan are vaccinated against polio, regardless of age. On both sides of the historical 2640-kilometer-long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, communities maintain close familial ties with each other. The constant year-round cross border movement makes for easy wild poliovirus transmission in the common epidemiological block.
As a new tactic in their joint efforts to defeat poliovirus circulation, Afghanistan and Pakistan have introduced all-age polio vaccination for travelers crossing the international borders in efforts to increase general population immunity against polio and to help stop the cross-border transmission of poliovirus.
Although polio mainly affects children under the age of five, it can also paralyze older children and adults, especially in settings where most people are not well-immunized. Adults may play a role in poliovirus transmission, so ensuring that they have sufficient immunity is critical to simultaneously eliminating poliovirus from the highest risk areas on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
FEB. 2019
Current Status of Polio – Feb. 2019
Since 1988, we’ve seen a worldwide reduction in polio cases of 99.9%. For more than two years, we’ve seen wild polio cases in only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan – Latest News in Polio Eradication
DEC 2018
Rotary PolioPlus Ambassador and polio survivor @jacknicklaus has offered to golf with the next 12 PolioPlus donors of $250,000 or more on March 12th. Twitter! https://www.rotary.org/en/jack-nicklaus-play-golf-rotary-donors
Current Polio Status:
Afghanistan 14 cases | Pakistan 8 cases | Nigeria 0 cases
OCT 2018
World Polio Day – 24 October – One Day, One Focus, Ending Polio.
Did you watch our 6th annual World Polio Day event at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? Watch the livestream program featuring global health experts and celebrities sharing our progress on the road to polio eradication. World Polio Day Livestream
JUNE 2018
The world’s progress in fighting polio might be one of the best-kept secrets in global health. – Bill Gates, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The fight to end polio is led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which includes Rotary, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and governments of the world, with the support of many others around the globe.
Rotary uses its members’ skills and passion to build awareness, fundraise, and encourage governments to donate to and support polio eradication efforts. Over one million Rotary members have volunteered their time and resources to help end polio.
We are now “This Close” to achieving a polio-free world, and many public figures and celebrities have signed on to help Rotary spread the word.
THIS CLOSE VIDEOS
https://www.rotary.org/en/plus-polioplus
Rotary launches the PolioPlus Partners program, enabling Rotary members in polio-free countries to provide support to fellow members in polio-affected countries for polio eradication activities. The Western Pacific region, spanning from Australia to China, is declared polio-free.
This year’s PolioPlus Goal is HUGE, but we know,
Together, we can make it happen!
POLIOPLUS DISTRICT 7690 GIVING UPDATE
Each quarter, I’ll report back here on the district website with 2 updates. The first will show where we are in terms of reaching the district goal of raising $150,000 for PolioPlus; the second will show an update on the global number of polio cases that are still active. We WILL make history by being a part of the generation that Ends Polio! How exciting!
HOW YOU CAN HELP: THIS IS A CLUB EFFORT
We know that giving happens on an individual level, and together, our donations stretch even farther. So we are asking you to make this a club effort and raise money for Polio. There are several ways you can do this, including simply asking each member of your club to give $50. If every member in our district of over 2600 people gave $50 each over the course of this fiscal year, we will be extremely close to reaching our goal of $150,000.
POLIOPLUS FUNDRAISING IDEAS THAT WORK!
Why not have fun and involve your club in a PolioPlus fundraising/service project? Here are just a few ideas you can implement with your clubs to help raise money for Polio.
Pies for Polio – Take the PIES FOR POLIO CHALLENGE. Challenge individuals in your club to donate $50 or more and take a pie in the face to show their support for the End Polio Now campaign. Ask them to record the Pie Challenge then TAG 3 more people to take the challenge. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, but sweeter. Use hashtag #PiesforPolio7690
Watch PDG Patrick Eakes show you how it’s done!
Purple Pinkie Project – Invite our District PolioPlus Chair, PDG Rick Snider (or your local Interact club) to your club to present a PolioPlus program in conjunction with a member-driven fundraiser, asking all members to bring a donation. Consider issuing a challenge and set a club goal to raise a certain amount. GO PUBLIC with your challenge and challenge another club on social media to host their own #PurplePinkie Project. Rick (or your local Interact club) has the program and the purple markers and is standing by for your invitation.
World’s Greatest Meal to Help End Polio – During your regular meeting, substitute your regular meal for a lower cost meal and donate the difference to to PoiloPlus.
A Cup of Joe for Polio – Ask your local coffee shop to partner with your club to accept donations from customers. You might set aside a day to be actively present in your local community to set up a station to give more information about Rotary and the End Polio now campaign.
A Pine Straw Fundraiser – The Kernersville club in our district had a great fundraiser. They sold Pine Straw for landscaping and lawn care to friends and neighbors in their community and raised over $2500 to help end polio.
A Memorial Dinner – The Reynolda club in our district hosted a memorial dinner in honor of a deceased member and asked for donations to go to PolioPlus.
Split the Pot Weekly Raffle – The weekly raffles are popular in many clubs. Consider splitting the winnings and giving to the Polio Fund.
Paul Harris Society Member PolioPlus Designated gifts – Did you know Paul Harris Society members can give a portion of their total gift to PolioPlus and still get full credit for society member status?
$10/member commitment from club projects budget as seed money for club goal of $50/member average – If your club is doing a service project this year, make the End Polio Now program one of your projects with the goal of allocating $10 per member towards the project and challenge your members to give the additional $40 per member for a total giving of $50/member gift to PolioPlus.
RESOURCES
Visit EndPolioNow.org for the following resources:
More information on the global campaign to end polio
Polio Campaign Flyers and Posters
Latest update on the fight to end polio globally
End Polio Now Brochure and Educational Piece
