In the late 1950's Dr. Albert Sabin worked on the development of an oral polio vaccine and in 1961 the vaccine was approved for use.   Because it was so easy to administer and gave longer-lasting immunity, the oral vaccine became the weapon of choice in the global campaign to eradicate polio.  In 1985, Rotary International set its primary goal to eradicate polio worldwide using the Sabin vaccine.  By 2008, more than 2 Billion children in 122 countries had been immunized against polio and today, there are only four countries which are still polio endemic.

It is these four endemic countries (India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan) that represent the "last inch" in achieving the goal.  The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a partnership with the single objective to achieve Rotary's goal.  The GPEI consists of five major partners who are working closely together to insure that polio will be fully eradicated worldwide. 

• Rotary International
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• World Health Organization
• UNICEF
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

When Rotary took on Polio eradication in 1985, the goal was considered to be audacious and unreachable. Here is what Bill Gates, Sr. had to say about it in his book "Showing Up For Life".

"More than 20 years ago, when most volunteer efforts were aimed at solving problems that existed down the street, Rotary took on a global fight nobody believed they could win.  A fight to end polio worldwide.

 

Since then, Rotary has revolutionized our thinking about the possibilities that exist for ordinary people to significantly change the world. 

What they have accomplished since then defies description.  Worldwide, cases of polio have declined by 99%.  Rotary members have done everything from spending their vacations immunizing children in faraway places, to lobbying heads of state, to negotiating cease-fires in civil wars long enough to get millions of children vaccinated.

 

They've shown us how to mobilize people, raise more money than anybody thought volunteers could, and create private-public partnerships that can take on large-scale global problems.

 

I believe - as do most experts - that Rotary will achieve its audacious goal of eradication global polio.  Along the way they have taught us that when we are inspired to work together in the interest of an engaging cause, there is no problem bigger than we are."

• Pennies for Polio Campaign (A great way to raise $$$$ for polio)
• Whatever Happened to Polio?
• Rotary International / End Polio Now
• Centers for Disease Control - Polio References
• World Health Organization - Polio Information
• UNICEF - Polio Immunizations
• Gates Foundation
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative
• The End of Polio
• The March of Dimes
• RIBI "Thanks For Life" Web Site
• "The Final Inch" (2008 Academy Award Nominee) ORDER ONLINE
• Rotary District 6400 Polio Vision 2010
• Rotarian Action Group:  Rotary Polio Survivors and Associates
• Kick Polio Out of Africa Campaign