ROTARY INTERNATIONAL May 2013 A Call to End Polio

Global Vaccine Summit yields US$4 billion in funding commitments to polio endgame plan.

The Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-18 and about US$4 billion in funding commitments took center stage at the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi 24-25 April 2013. Developed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the plan is designed to achieve the certification of polio eradication by the end of 2018, strengthen routine immunization, and transfer the eradication initiative’s assets to other public health efforts.

Rotary International, along with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are partners in the GPEI.

The new plan will cost $5.5 billion. Governments, nongovernmental organizations, foundations, and other donors announced the commitments during the vaccine summit.

Global scientists declare polio eradication achievable by 2018
More than 400 scientists from around the world, including Nobel laureates and other leading health experts, have signed the Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication.

The group, which includes Dr. John Sever, vice chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, expressed their confidence in the new polio endgame strategic plan to eradicate the disease worldwide by 2018.

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Pakistan reaches one-year mark with no type 3 cases

Pakistan hasn’t recorded a case of type 3 polio since 18 April 2012. Worldwide, no type 3 cases have been reported this year.

“Pakistan has achieved a major milestone,” says Pakistan PolioPlus Committee Chair Aziz Memon, who credits “concerted efforts from the Army and the Frontier Corps, the government of Pakistan, polio partners, and Rotarians who have worked tirelessly with the teams during campaigns.”

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The fight isn’t over. Polio is a crippling, potentially fatal infectious disease, and if we don’t finish the job of eradication, more than 10 million children under age five could be paralyzed in the next 40 years.

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End Polio Now reports monthly on the progress toward global polio eradication, highlighting Rotary International's role. Email: Contact.Center@rotary.org.