{"id":43,"date":"2017-08-05T07:21:02","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T23:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rotary3460a.org.tw\/wordpress\/?p=43"},"modified":"2017-08-05T07:32:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-04T23:32:49","slug":"at-the-rotary-international-convention-global-leaders-and-key-donors-affirm-their-commitment-to-ending-polio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rotary3460a.org.tw\/wordpress\/archives\/43","title":{"rendered":"At the Rotary International Convention, global leaders and key donors affirm their commitment to ending polio"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Rotary International Convention, global leaders and key donors affirm their commitment to ending polio<\/a><\/h2>\n

By\u00a0Ryan Hyland and Teresa Schmedding<\/strong><\/p>\n

With polio on the brink of eradication, nations from around the world and key donors pledged more than $1 billion on Monday to energize the global fight to end the paralyzing disease.<\/p>\n

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Bill Gates, co-chair of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and RI President John Germ share the recent news about their partnership in the fight to eradicate polio.<\/p>\n
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The historic pledges of new funds at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, will go toward drastically shrinking the\u00a0$1.5 billion<\/a>\u00a0gap in the funding that the partners of the\u00a0Global Polio Eradication Initiative<\/a>\u00a0say is needed to reduce polio cases to zero worldwide. Just five cases have been reported this year, the lowest number in history.<\/p>\n

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said ending polio would be one of the world\u2019s greatest achievements.<\/p>\n

“Polio is the thing I spend the most time on. Everyday I look at my email to see if we have a new case,” Gates said. “I’m very inspired to be part of this. I’m also very humbled.”<\/p>\n

Rotary International President John F. Germ announced that Rotary would increase its commitment and raise $50 million per year over the next three years. Rotary has raised more than $1.7 billion to fight the disease since 1985.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, every time a new case is identified, it really could be the last one the world ever sees,\u201d Germ said.<\/p>\n

Gates told the crowd of nearly 24,000 that, starting 1 July, his\u00a0foundation\u00a0<\/a>will extend its 2-to-1 match to cover up to $50 million in donations to Rotary for each of the next three years. The match and donations to Rotary would add up to $150 million per year over the next three years, which will add up to $450 million to the fight.<\/p>\n

The new funding will go toward polio eradication efforts such as disease surveillance, responses to any outbreaks, and the vaccination of more than 400 million children annually.<\/p>\n

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Why Zero Matters<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n
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Polio cases have been reduced by 99.9% worldwide since 1988. But continuing efforts to end the disease are critical to eradicating polio for good. We’ve immunized over 2.5 billion children in the world’s most sophisticated global health initiative. Help us make history by getting to zero. Learn more at endpolio.org<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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