Rotary backs mass efforts to end polio

CEBU, Philippines — Various clubs of the Rotary Club International around the world will hold events and fundraisers to help the global fight to end polio.

In Cebu, District 3860 of the Rotary Club will support a simultaneous immunization dubbed as “Barangay Patak” in different health centers tomorrow, October 23.

Rotarians will assemble and hold a program at the regional office of the Department of Health at 8 a.m. before going to the different barangays in the Metro Cebu for the mass immunization.

The activity will be duplicated in 14 provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao under the district 3860 of the Rotary Club.

The DOH declared on September 19 an outbreak of polio in the Philippines. Two cases have been reported to date, both caused by vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2).

"Now, more than ever Rotary is working with governments and its partners in increasing greater awareness for polio in the days to come as well as increase its fundraising efforts for this key humanitarian priority of Rotary International," reads a statement from the club.

Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988.

In 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined Rotary in its commitment to ending polio.

Since 2013, the Gates Foundation has matched every $1 Rotary commits to polio eradication 2- to-1, up to $35 million per year.

Rotary, with matching funds from the Gates Foundation, has contributed more than $1.6 billion to end polio.

"Since we started the fight against polio, we’ve reduced the number of polio cases by 99.9 percent and reached more than 2.5 billion children with the vaccine. There are fewer polio cases today than ever before, but we will not stop until we reach zero," it said. (FREEMAN)