REGION – World Polio Day is Oct. 24, 2020. There is no cure, but polio is preventable with a vaccine.
Click the link below to take a look at some Polio fast facts that the Ludlow Rotary Club has gathered:
Rotary, 2020 world polio day facts
Some fast facts include:
The first polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955.
Polio is an intestinal virus that enters the environment through feces. It is spread via personal contact, exenterated by poor hygiene. The virus enters the body through the mouth and can survive up to two months outside of the body.
Fewer than one in 100 infected people get a paralytic form of the disease. If this occurs, the virus destroys motor neurons, the nerve cells that control muscles.
Ten million children in five countries were immunized by the end of 1956. By 1957, there were fewer than 6,000 cases of polio in the United States.
1979-1980s: Rotary undertakes a series of polio immunization campaigns.
The World Health Organization certified that the United States became polio free in 1994 followed by the Western Pacific region in 2000 and Europe in 2002.
2007: The Gates Foundation announced its first major grant for Polio eradication to Rotary International. It was a $100 million challenge to Rotary.
By 2008, Rotarians had contributed more than $700 million and countless hours to immunize more than two billion children in 122 countries.
2009: Bill Gates pledged an additional $255 million.
2012: Rotary raised $228.7 million.
Currently the Gates Foundation increased their pledge and increased up to $450 million dependent upon Rotary’s 2-to-1 match. Rotary in conjunction with the Gates foundation has contributed more than $2 billion to fight polio.
Help make the world polio free. If you wish to contribute, make checks payable to LARCF, Inc. (Ludlow Area Rotary Charitable Fund, Inc.) PO Box 216, Ludlow, VT 05149. Please visit www.ludlowrotary.com. You may contact them via email at ludlowrotary@gmail.com or visit www.endpolio.org for more information.