Last Look

On the road for polio

Rotary launched its polio eradication campaign in the Philippines in 1979; the country had its last reported case of wild poliovirus in 1993. But by 2018, immunization rates in the country had fallen to 66 percent.

With the goal of increasing that number, the Rotary Club of Cebu organized about two dozen cyclists to ride around Cebu island’s 360-mile perimeter for three days in November, stopping in three towns along the way to help conduct mass vaccinations. The cyclists also collected $19,000 in pledges for Rotary’s work to end polio.

Every dollar of District Designated Funds that your district contributes to End Polio Now is matched by the World Fund, up to $10 million. In addition, every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication, up to $50 million a year, is matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That means every $1 of DDF becomes $6 available for PolioPlus grants.

If your district hasn’t made a DDF allocation this year, consider making one to End Polio Now.

For more information, write to share.mailbox@rotary.org.

• Photos courtesy of Bernard Vonn Sia

• This story originally appeared in the June 2020 issue of The Rotarian magazine.