World Polio Day Online Global Update

Mark your calendar to join us on 24 October for Rotary’s World Polio Day Online Global Update. It will be streamed on RI’s Facebook pages in multiple languages and time zones around the world.

World Polio Day is an annual opportunity for Rotary members to rally the world around the fight to eradicate the disease forever. This year’s program will highlight the heroes of polio eradication, with stories from areas that have recently been affected and areas where polio is still endemic.

This year's program, sponsored by UNICEF USA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, features TV presenter and former Paralympian Ade Adepitan, supermodel Isabeli Fontana, science educator Bill Nye, and actress Archie Panjabi. Our partners at the World Health Organization and UNICEF will provide updates on the latest progress toward a polio-free world.

In 1988, when Rotary and its partners founded the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the paralyzing disease affected 350,000 children. Our collaboration with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and later the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, local health workers, and national governments has helped reduce that number by 99.9 percent.

RSVP to your region’s global update on the Rotary International Facebook page.

Will your club or district host an event? Tell us about it and promote it to the world. Or find an event near you to attend. Be a part of celebrating the progress we’ve made toward eradicating polio.