The Rotary Clubs of Brattleboro mark historic progress toward a polio-free world while urging the community to help end the paralyzing disease
Airing informative show on BCTV is among thousands to be held by Rotary clubs around the world on World Polio Day, Thursday, October 24, 2019
Rotary members in Brattleboro are taking action on World Polio Day to raise awareness, funds, and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.
In episode 21 of the award-winning, monthly show, Rotary Cares, Brattleboro Rotary Club past president Marty Cohn talks to Brattleboro Sunrise Club Past President Michelle Pong and Rotary District 7870 Past District Governor Rick Manganello about a focus area of Rotary International – Eradicating Polio. Directed by Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary Club past president Kevin Yager in the studio of Brattleboro Community Television.
The show can be viewed at https://www.brattleborotv.org/rotary-cares/ep-21-michelle-pong-and-rick-manganello.
Or, you can listen to the podcast at
https://soundcloud.com/user-402413535/rotary-cares-ep-21-eradicating-polio
When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative more than three decades ago, polio paralyzed 1,000 children every day. We’ve made great progress against the disease since then. Polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent, from 350,000 cases in 1988 in 125 countries to 33 cases of wild poliovirus in 2018 in just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we remain committed to the end.
With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. Rotary has committed to raising US$50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million.
“We’re talking about eradicating polio that would be the second disease to be wiped out after smallpox,” said Brattleboro Rotary Club past president Marty Cohn, who hosts the show, “We are so close.”
Rotary has contributed more than $1.9 billion to ending polio since 1985.
