The New Zealand Government has announced a contribution of $5,000,000 to Rotary New Zealand for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to help the global fight to end polio.
Only three countires (Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan) are not yet free of polio; in the rest of the world polio has been eradicated through a programme operating since 1988 in which Rotary has been a key partner. Through this programme the incidence of polio worldwide has been reduced by over 99%.
Over 16,000,000 people who once would have their lives blighted by polio have been saved from that fate, and governments have been able to commit more that US$27 billion that once would have been required for caring for polio suffers to other health initiatives.
Rotary is committed to ensure that this success is continued to the point where there are no new polio cases. If one case remains, the risk that polio could resurge and spread to countries that are now polio-free remains.
When polio has been removed, it will join smallpox as the only human diseases to be permanently eradicated from the world.