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A Final push towards eradication of Polio, Rotary Kallianpur leads the way.

Kallianpur, March 10, 2019: In order to sustain Polio eradication from the country, Government in association with Rotary International launched Pulse Polio Programme on Sunday. Children of 5 years and less were administered 2 drops of the anti polio serum to boost the immunity against the virus in Children.

Rotary Kallianpur joined hands and helped to smooth implementation of the drive. Led by President Rtn. Braan D Souza and Secretary Rtn. Diwakar Rotary Members collected the Serum filled boxes from Hoode Primary Health Centre in the early Morning and distributed the same to 16 centers around Hoode Bengre, Kemmannu, Kallianpur, Badanidiyoor  and Santhekatte area. Rotary members also distributed lunch packets for volunteers and collected the data and balance serum in the evening. Dignitaries like Deputy District Governor Rtn. Rajaram Bhat and AG Rtn. Subanna Pai also visited by centers and lent their support to the cause. In all 97% of the children in Udupi were administered the serum. Volunteers will visit the balance children at their homes and administer the dose.

eradicating polio
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 30 years. Since 1979, we have vaccinated more than 2.5 billion children. But we haven’t done it alone. Here is a timeline for our partnerships.

1979-early 1980s
Rotary undertakes a series of polio immunization campaigns throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America, beginning with one in 1979 in the Philippines and followed by similar activities in Cambodia, Haiti, Morocco, Paraguay, and Sierra Leone.

1985
Rotary introduces PolioPlus – the first effort to immunize every child in the world with polio vaccine – and aims to raise $120 million. During its 1988 convention in Philadelphia, Rotary announces it has raised $247 million, more than double the target amount.

1988
Rotary pushes forward the global resolution to eradicate polio at the 1988 World Health Assembly in Geneva. It also spearheads the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.

2002-03
Rotary launches the Polio Eradication Fundraising Campaign with a fundraising target of $80 million. The campaign, netting $135 million, eclipses Rotary’s goal. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributes $1 million when it honors Rotary with its Gates Award for Global Health, its first gift to Rotary’s efforts to end polio.

2007
The Gates Foundation announces its first major grant to polio eradication – a $100 million challenge to Rotary, promising to match funds raised by Rotarians.

2009
Bill Gates pledges an additional $255 million at Rotary’s International Assembly, and Rotary increases its fundraising goal to $200 million.

2011
Bill Gates speaks at the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans.

2012
Rotary raises $228.7 million, surpassing the original goal of $200 million. In the same year, Jeff Raikes, then-CEO of the Gates Foundation, announces an additional $50 million contribution to polio eradication efforts at Rotary’s International Assembly.

2013
An announcement at the Rotary International Convention in Lisbon sets the stage for a new extension of the partnership between Rotary and the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation agrees to match 2-to-1 every dollar committed by Rotary, up to $35 million per year, through 2018. Throughout the campaign, Rotary exceeds its annual fundraising goal.

2017
On the heels of the success of the 2-to-1 matching grant, Rotary and the Gates Foundation announce an increased combined pledge of up to $450 million at the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta. Rotary’s new goal is to contribute $50 million per year over three years. With a 2-to-1 match, the Gates Foundation’s contribution will increase to $300 million if Rotary reaches its fundraising target.

This year marks 30 years since Rotary launched PolioPlus, its campaign to rid the world of polio. Beginning on Rotary’s anniversary, 23 February, Rotary members worldwide will be holding events to celebrate three decades of polio eradication progress.

Since 1985 Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 400 in 2014, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children worldwide. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $10 billion to the effort.

Before the global scope of PolioPlus, individual clubs with Rotary funding were attacking the disease closer to home.

In 1979 Rotary members and delegates of the Philippine Ministry of Health looked on as volunteers administered drops of the oral polio vaccine to children in the Manila barrio of Guadalupe Viejo.

When James L. Bomar Jr., then Rotary president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child’s mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Bomar joined Enrique M. Garcia, the country’s minister of health, in signing the contract committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint five-year effort to immunize around 6 million children against polio at a cost of about $760,000.

In a 1993 interview, Bomar recalled how the brother of one of the children he’d immunized tugged on his pant leg to get his attention and said, "Thank you, thank you, Rotary."

The success of this project set the stage for Rotary’s top priority to rid the world of polio. Since Rotary introduced its PolioPlus campaign, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped 99 percent, and the virus remains endemic in just three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.