As of 31 October 1997 , Rotary has committed $304 million for global polio eradication. By the year 2005, Rotary's centennial, its contribution to polio eradication and the necessary certification process will exceed US$400 million.

In addition, millions of dollars of in-kind and personal contributions have been made by and through local Rotary clubs and districts for polio eradication activities. Of even greater significance has been the huge volunteer army mobilized by Rotary International. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers at the local level provide support at clinics or mobilize their communities for immunization or polio eradication activities. More than one million Rotarians worldwide have contributed to the success of the global eradication effort.

Although the scourge of polio is a fading memory in many parts of the world, approximately 4,000 polio cases were reported in 1996. The World Health Organization estimates that due to underreporting, which occurs in regions where surveillance is not fully developed, there may have actually been as many as 40,000 cases.

Why polio eradication, why now?

Polio eradication is achievable. Effective polio vaccine exists and eradication techniques have been proven by global progress in the western hemisphere and Asia. National Immunization Days (NIDs) has now proven effective in immunizing large populations successfully.

The United States spends more than $230 million a year on polio immunization. Worldwide, at least $1.5 billion in routine vaccination costs would be saved each year by eradication. Polio can be eradicated for as little as US$.50-worth of vaccine per child.

The role that Rotary has played

• In India, more than 127 million children were immunized on a single day in January 1997. Rotarians played a major role in mobilizing some 150,000 volunteers to transport the oral polio vaccine and assist doctors, health workers and other volunteers during the largest ever National Immunization Day.
• In Uganda, Rotary volunteers worked with the local authorities to immunize children living in remote mountain villages and refugee children who entered the country from neighboring Rwanda and Zaire.
• In the People's Republic of China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, where there are no Rotary clubs, PolioPlus funded vaccines and promotional materials for NIDs. Thai Rotarians created posters for four national campaigns and provided funds to train Laotian health workers.
• In 1996, 28 sub-Saharan African countries launched a three-year polio immunization program, signaling the beginning of the last push against the crippling disease. Rotary clubs throughout the region were vital participants in the campaign, "Kick Polio Out of Africa" that immunized more than 52 million children under the age of five.
• The Rotary Foundation met almost all of the vaccine funding needs for the first year of Operation MECACAR (Mediterranean, Caucasus and Central Asian Republics), a three-year program designed to wipe out polio and diphtheria in the Middle East and Central Asia.
• Rotary helps strengthen the global polio laboratory network needed to support the rapid diagnosis of suspected cases of polio. Rotarians provide direct support to laboratories and social mobilization campaigns through the Polio Plus Partners Program.

Progress toward eradication

• Over 400 million children -- almost two thirds of the world's children under five -- received oral polio vaccine in 1996.
• 154 nations reported no cases of polio in 1996, up from 85 when Polio Plus began in 1985.
• As a result of the efforts of Rotary International and its global partners for the last ten years, one billion children have received oral polio vaccine and are successfully protected from poliomyelitis. UNICEF estimates there are 4 million children playing and walking normally today who would have contracted polio were it not for the immunization efforts of the global polio eradication team.
• Eradication requires NIDs and global surveillance systems, which include networks of laboratories. All nations must sustain high levels of polio immunization until this ancient crippler of children is eradicated.
• In 1994, the Pan American health organization announced that polio had been eradicated in the Western Hemisphere.