Rotary Club of Vegreville Helping to Eradicate Polio

Rotary Club of Vegreville Helping to Eradicate Polio

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Members of the Vegreville Rotary Club are helping to eradicate Polio. On Oct. 4 the Rotary Club of Vegreville held a hot dog sale at the Rendevous Park to raise awareness and funds in recognition of World Polio Day that is held annually on Oct. 24.

“From donations, and the generous food donation from Vegreville Co-op, we were able to raise $700 which is going directly to Rotary Polio Plus to help eradicate polio,” stated Ann Waters.

Currently, there are only two countries in the world that still have polio, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That’s in large part due to Rotary International that launched a global effort to vaccinate children against Polio in 1985. There were around 350,000 cases of polio worldwide in 1988, however, this figure has since dropped to only 37 confirmed cases in 2016.

Waters said, “The Rotary Club of Vegreville was established May 1951. We have been contributing to Polio Plus since its inception in 1985. Rotary’s most ambitious undertaking, announced in 1985, is the PolioPlus program, a massive campaign to eradicate polio by the year 2005. Conducted with the cooperation of national governments and intergovernmental agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), PolioPlus is a paradigm for public/ private sector collaboration in the fight against disease.

Vegreville Rotarians volunteering at the hot dog sale.

(Rotary Club of Vegreville/Submitted Photo)

PolioPlus helps support national and regional polio eradication programs by providing vaccine, surveillance support and social mobilization. By the year 2005 -- the target date for certification of a polio-free world -- Rotarian contributions to the global polio eradication effort will reach a half billion US dollars.”

Polio, (poliomyelitis) primarily affects children under the age of five. One in 200 infections results in permanent paralysis and when their respiratory muscles become immobilized, 5 percent to 10 percent of paralyzed people die.

According to Rotary International, “Members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.”

Rotary, a global service organization with over 1.4 million members. Rotary began with the vision of Paul Harris, a Chicago based lawyer, who formed the Rotary Club of Chicago on Feb. 23, 1905. His goal was so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful lifelong friendships. Over time reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service.