Media spotlights Rotary's role in global polio eradication
Rotary News -- 29 October 2012
Rotary's efforts to eradicate polio received major coverage in the media both on and around World Polio Day 24 October, including in an opinion piece by RI General Secretary John Hewko and Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, appearing on The Blog at the Huffington Post.
In the essay, "The Final Push to Eradicate Polio," Hewko and Sachs spell out why now is the decisive moment to rededicate our efforts and recommmit ourselves to the unfinished business of finally ending this crippling disease.
"So close and yet so vulnerable: that is our current reality," the essay states. "With polio cases down to near zero, the world's patience and attention span could yet falter. The remaining budget gap to finish the job, a few billion dollars in the coming years, might remain unfilled. More than three decades of heroic efforts could yet be vanquished."
The essay goes on to explain how Rotarians, and every citizen, can get involved in appealing to governments to finish the job, by visiting endpolionow.org and taking personal actions to eradicate polio.
"Let us work together to finish the great global effort to end polio once and for all, and to use the energy and experience gained in that global campaign to complete the challenge of providing health for all on our small and interdependent planet."
Rotary International and its efforts to eradicate polio were also mentioned in other articles on the Huffington Post and One.org, as well as in an editorial by Hewko on BIOtechNOW.
A few other places Rotary was mentioned include:
In addition, many of Rotary's celebrity polio ambassadors took to social media to spread the world about polio, including Ziggy Marley, Jack Nicklaus, David Sanborn, Aseefa Bhutto Zadari, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Angelique Kidjo, and Jane Goodall. Amanda Peet and Jackie Chan each wrote a blog.
Other familiar and famous faces that mentioned Rotary in their quest to raise awareness of this crippling disease included Paralympian Dennis Ogbe, who wrote a piece posted on CNN; and polio survivor Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who released a statement on his website in recognition of World Polio Day.