October 24 is World Polio Day, and as a belated tribute, Midland City Council honored the Rotary Club of Midland at its Nov. 18 meeting. This is in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of PolioPlus, Rotary Club International’s global initiative to eradicate polio worldwide.
“The Rotary Club of Midland and Midland West Rotary Club are two of the over 51 clubs throughout Rotary District 5730, with over 1,600 members sponsoring service projects to address such critical issues as poverty, health, hunger, illiteracy and the environment in their local communities and abroad,” said Councilman-At-Large John Burkholder, himself a member of the Rotary Club of Midland’s Thursday chapter. “We do some really amazing things in the community, and one of the things that they are looking to do is stamp out polio worldwide.”
Poliomyelitis — better known as polio — is a deadly virus that can cause severe muscle dysmorphia and even paralysis, particularly in children. Once one of the world’s most feared diseases, polio has been largely contained due to heavy vaccination efforts and is on track to become the second disease to be completely eradicated, following smallpox in 1977. Today, there are estimated to be less than 1,000 cases of polio worldwide, with the only wild strains of the disease being in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
PolioPlus was created in 1985 by Rotary International member Sergio Mulitsch di Palmenberg, as part of the larger Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Rotary International is joined in GPEI by various other groups, such as the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation.
“We know that it’s a formidable challenge to eradicate a disease that has killed and crippled children since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians,” Gates Foundation founder Bill Gates said in 2009. “We don’t know exactly when the last child will be affected. But we do have the vaccines to wipe it out. Countries do have the will to deploy all the tools at their disposal. If we all have the fortitude to see this effort through to the end, then we will eradicate polio.”
Rotary International has recently announced that they will be donating $150 million to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of PolioPlus. GPEI is currently working on a plan for complete eradication of polio by 2026.