This is Polio Week

Chuck Rolland brings us this week's program where we'll take a look at Rotary's continuing effort to eradicate Polio.Here's the article we put in last week's Messenger-Index:

Oct 24^th marks Rotary International's annual commemoration of World Polio Day and the organization's continuing effort to eradicate the disease around the world. Many of us are old enough to remember the 1950's when Polio, or "infantile Paralysis" as it was called, was in the news. We recall pictures of iron lungs, kids with braces on their legs and signs at the town park saying "no swimming".

Dr. Jonas Salk invented the first vaccine in 1954 and in 1961 Dr. Albert Sabin developed the oral vaccine which has become the vaccine of choice for immunization programs throughout the world. In 1985, Rotary International joined with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to form the "Polio Eradication Initiative" to rid the world of this tenacious disease. Since 1995, Rotary and its partners have raised more than $3 billion and immunized more than 2 billion children in 122 countries.

While the incidence of polio has been reduced by 99% over the past twenty five years, there are still four countries that remain polio-endemic: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria. Other nations remain at risk for infections imported from the endemic countries.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded a challenge grant to Rotary International in the amount of $355 million to provide critical support to eradication efforts, including the distribution of a more effective bivalent vaccine which has recently been approved for use.

Polio is highly infectious and there is no cure. The best protection is prevention. For as little as 60 cents, a child can be protected for life with a simple oral vaccine.