Polio was once one of the most feared diseases globally. A highly infectious disease with no cure, polio spread rapidly through communities and left devastation in its wake. Every year, thousands of children used to be killed and hundreds of thousands paralyzed.
Health workers at a polio-vaccine transit post in Antock, Punjab, Pakistan. The team aims to vaccinate children missed during routine immunization campaigns.
In 1985, Rotary International launched PolioPlus, the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative. Three years later, with Rotary's help, The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is launched, as polio paralyzes more than 350,000 children every year in over 125 countries.
Today, thanks to global efforts and innovative tools, polio cases are down 99.9%. With wild poliovirus restricted to just a few high-risk geographies, the world has an historic opportunity to stop virus transmission for good. There are 20 million children walking today who would otherwise have been paralyzed. Only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, remain endemic for wild polio.
Along with its partners, Rotary International and clubs around the world have helped immunize 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Read more these efforts at Make Polio History.
Children in the village of Azuretti, Cote d'Ivoire, show their fingers, which have been marked to indicate that they've received polio vaccine during a National Immunization Day.
Chestnut Hill Rotary Speaker
Polio survivor, John Nanni
On October 30, Chestnut Hill Rotary will present speaker, John Nanni who will conduct a personal presentation on the fight to eradicate polio in support of World Polio Day, held annually on October 24, in which thousands of Rotary Clubs around the world hold events and fundraisers to recognize progress made in the global fight to end Polio.
Mr. Nanni is a Polio Survivor and suffers from severe Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS). At the age of 10 months old in 1953, months before the Salk vaccine was distributed, Nanni was paralyzed from his neck down for 6 months. With the help of his family, he took his first steps a year later. Nanni grew up in Binghamton, New York and graduated from the State University of New York at Delhi with a degree in Hotel, Restaurant Management. He worked in the Hospitality Industry for 20 years before starting the Paper And Ribbon Supply Company, which sold products to the restaurant industry.
Join us at the Chestnut Hill Rotary Breakfast meeting, Wednesday October 30, 7:30 a.m. Center on the Hill, Widener Hall, 8855 Germantown Avenue (next to Chestnut Hill Hospital). Free parking available behind the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
This article is reprinted from September 29, 2023.
