District 5870 Rotary

Bill Gates has pledged $355 million to date in challenge grants to help Rotary International eradicate polio. Rotarians worldwide have worked in many ways to eradicate polio.

Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority for more than 20 years. The international humanitarian service organization is a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, along with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.

Great progress has been made, with the number of annual polio cases dropping more than 99 percent from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 2,000 in 2008. Today, polio remains endemic to only four countries: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan.

Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $800 million and countless volunteer hours to help immunize more than two billion children in 122 countries. Rotary is currently raising $200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, all of it for polio eradication.