ATTENTION DISTRICT 7070 ROTARIANS: Please send this news release to your local new outlets (radio, TV, newspaper, facebook friends, twitter followers): Two stories; here they are: Rotary clubs increase awareness, advocacy work for World Polio Day on Oct. 24 ‘ ‘World’s Biggest Commercial,’ highlights humanitarian group’s public outreach in support of global effort to end a crippling disease once and for all EVANSTON, Ill., USA (Oct. 24, 2013) – On World Polio Day (Oct. 24), Rotary International invites one and all to get online and participate in the World’s Biggest Commercial, promoting the global effort to eradicate this crippling childhood disease. The innovative, interactive campaign gives everyone a chance to join Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates, Jackie Chan, Amanda Peet and other world figures and celebrities already participating in Rotary’s “This Close” campaign (as in, “this close” to ending polio) in raising awareness and support for polio eradication. Participants can upload photos of themselves to Rotary’s polio eradication website, endpolionow.org, to be edited into the constantly expanding promotional spot. Participants will receive an email with a direct link to their image and comment within the commercial. There is a US$700-million funding gap that threatens to undermine all of the progress achieved against the disease since 1988, when Rotary joined with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. In response to the crisis, Rotary on Sept. 27, 2012, announced a funding commitment of $75 million for polio eradication over the next three years during a special United Nations General Assembly session on polio convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Rotary also delivered to the UN an online petition supporting polio eradication signed by more than 7,000 global citizens. In September, 2013, the Canadian government announced a contribution to the polio eradication effort at a side meeting during the United Nations General Assembly. The Canadian International Development Agency and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will each give to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative One Canadian Dollar for every $1 raised by Canadian Rotarians up to $1 million. Upon completion, the initiative will generate a total of $3 million. “The fundraising by the Rotarians allows them to ask for support from the Canadian public at large,” said Wilf Wilkinson, a Rotarian in the Trenton Ontario Rotary Club and a Past Rotary International President. “The fact that the Government of Canada and the Gates Foundation are behind Rotary’s polio eradication efforts is a big plus and helps our overall awareness efforts”, he added. To date, Rotary members have contributed over $1.2 billion to the effort. Coinciding with World Polio Day, Rotary is ramping up its advocacy work in the 200 countries and regions where Rotary clubs exist to encourage every national government to commit to the funding levels needed to close the gap. The irony is that despite the funding gap, there has never been a more opportune time to finish off polio, with new cases at an all-time low and the wild poliovirus now confined to only a few pockets in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. In 1988, polio infected and disabled about 350,000 people a year, most of them children. In 2011, fewer than 700 cases were reported – a reduction of more than 99 percent. The success is due to mass immunization drives that have reached more than two billion children with the oral polio vaccine. But public health experts say that if the eradication effort stalls now, polio could rebound quickly, potentially paralyzing 250,000 children a year. Unvaccinated children everywhere, including countries now polio-free, would be at greatly increased risk. World Polio Day follows a succession of significant developments that have made 2012 one of the most important years in the history of the polio eradication initiative. • In January, Rotary announced it had raised more than the $200 million in new money for polio eradication called for in a $355 million challenge grant from the Gates Foundation. The total is now $228 million and growing. In recognition of Rotary’s effort, the Gates Foundation added another $50 million. Total funding package: $605+ million. • In February, India was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries. Many health experts expected India to be polio’s final stronghold, so the country’s polio-free designation after a full year of no new cases represents a major milestone. • In May, the World Health Assembly declared polio eradication to be a “programmatic emergency for global public health,” in recognition of the dichotomy posed by the increased risk of failure due to the funding gap, opposite the significant progress represented by the reduction in cases and polio’s shrinking geographical presence. The message to world leaders is clear: support the final push to achieve eradication now while the goal has never been closer, or face the potential consequences of a new polio pandemic that could disable millions of children within a decade. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It includes the support of governments and other private sector donors. Rotary’s main responsibilities are fundraising, advocacy, and volunteer recruitment. Since 1995, the advocacy efforts of Rotary and its partners have helped raise more than $8 billion from donor governments. And Rotary clubs also provide on the ground help in polio affected communities. “It is so important to generate the funds needed to End Polio Now. To fail is to invite a polio resurgence that would condemn millions of children to lifelong paralysis in the years ahead. The bottom line is this: As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, all children – wherever they live – remain at risk”, said Mr. Bill Patchett, Chairman of Rotary International District 7070’s (southern Ontario) Rotary Foundation and the End polio Now Coordinator for Rotary Clubs in Eastern Canada and northeastern United States. ### Editor’s note: Rotary is a global humanitarian organization with more than 1.2 million members in 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary members are men and women who are business, professional and community leaders with a shared commitment to make the world a better place through humanitarian service. For more information and images for download please visit Rotary’s Media Center. AND ROTARY CLUBS OF TORONTO ROTARY INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT 7070 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The City of Toronto raises the Rotary Flag for World Polio Day in Toronto on October 24, 2013 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- In honor of World Polio Day 2013, hundreds of Rotarians from the 26 Rotary Clubs in Toronto will be on hand, including the Rotary International District Governor Valarie Wafer, to help raise the red END POLIO NOW at Toronto City Hall at 10:00 am on October 24 in honour of the Rotary Clubs of Toronto and their efforts in Rotary’s 28-year mission to eradicate the crippling childhood disease, polio. “The Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, has been invited to attend the flag raising ceremony, and we hope that his schedule permits”, announced Valarie Wafer, Rotary International District Governor for the 55 Rotary Clubs in southern Ontario, including the 26 Rotary Clubs in Toronto. The City of Toronto “End Polio Now” Flag raising ceremony tells the whole world that October 24 is World Polio Day in Toronto and it honours the Rotary Clubs efforts in Rotary’s 28-year mission to eradicate the crippling childhood disease, polio”, she added. “Polio cases have declined rapidly since 1985, but the fight isnt over. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, and for as little as US$0.60, a child can be protected against the virus for life. If we dont finish the fight right now, more than 10 million children under the age of five could be paralyzed by polio in the next 40 years” she said. Many Rotary Clubs in the GTA will also be handing out polio awareness brochures along the GO Train routes on October 24, 2013. As World Polio Day draws closer, the world is 99.9% polio free, the fight to end polio is not over and Rotary Clubs world-wide continue to raise funds to meet the challenge. A US$700-million funding gap threatens to undermine all of the progress achieved against the disease since 1988, when Rotary joined with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. In response to the crisis, Rotary International, on Sept. 27, 2012, announced a funding commitment of $75 million for polio eradication over the next three years during a special United Nations General Assembly session on polio convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Rotary also delivered to the UN an online petition supporting polio eradication signed by more than 7,000 global citizens. In September, 2013, the Canadian government announced a contribution to the polio eradication effort at a side meeting during the United Nations General Assembly. The Canadian International Development Agency and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will each give to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative One Canadian Dollar for every $1 raised by Canadian Rotarians up to $1 million. Upon completion, the initiative will generate a total of $3 million. “The fundraising by the Rotarians allows them to ask for support from the Canadian public at large,” said Wilf Wilkinson, a Rotarian in the Trenton Ontario Rotary Club and a Past Rotary International President. “The fact that the Government of Canada and the Gates Foundation are behind Rotary’s polio eradication efforts is a big plus and helps our overall awareness efforts”, he added To date, Rotary members have contributed over $1.2 billion to the effort. Coinciding with World Polio Day, Rotary is ramping up its advocacy work in the 200 countries and regions where Rotary clubs exist to encourage every national government to commit to the funding levels needed to close the gap. The irony is that despite the funding gap, there has never been a more opportune time to finish off polio, with new cases at an all-time low and the wild poliovirus now confined to only a few pockets in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. In 1988, polio infected and disabled about 350,000 people a year, most of them children. In 2011, fewer than 700 cases were reported – a reduction of more than 99 percent. The success is due to mass immunization drives that have reached more than two billion children with the oral polio vaccine. But public health experts say that if the eradication effort stalls now, polio could rebound quickly, potentially paralyzing 250,000 children a year. Unvaccinated children everywhere, including countries now polio-free, would be at greatly increased risk. World Polio Day follows a succession of significant developments that have made 2012 one of the most important years in the history of the polio eradication initiative. • In January, Rotary announced it had raised more than the $200 million in new money for polio eradication called for in a $355 million challenge grant from the Gates Foundation. The total is now $228 million and growing. In recognition of Rotary’s effort, the Gates Foundation added another $50 million. Total funding package: $605+ million. • In February, India was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries. Many health experts expected India to be polio’s final stronghold, so the country’s polio-free designation after a full year of no new cases represents a major milestone. • In May, the World Health Assembly declared polio eradication to be a “programmatic emergency for global public health,” in recognition of the dichotomy posed by the increased risk of failure due to the funding gap, opposite the significant progress represented by the reduction in cases and polio’s shrinking geographical presence. The message to world leaders is clear: support the final push to achieve eradication now while the goal has never been closer, or face the potential consequences of a new polio pandemic that could disable millions of children within a decade. On Wednesday, October 24, 2013 many cities all over the world are proclaiming Wednesday World Polio Day in honour of Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio from the world. Oshawa Rotarian and Mayor of Oshawa, John Henry, and fellow many mayors in Ontario , have issued these proclamations. A highly infectious disease, polio causes paralysis and is sometimes fatal. As there is no cure, the best protection is prevention. For as little as US 60 cents worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. After the successful engagement of over 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, polio could be the first human disease of the 21st century to be eradicated. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It includes the support of governments and other private sector donors. Rotary’s main responsibilities are fundraising, advocacy, and volunteer recruitment. Since 1995, the advocacy efforts of Rotary and its partners have helped raise more than $8 billion from donor governments. And Rotary clubs also provide on the ground help in polio affected communities. “It is so important to generate the funds needed to End Polio Now. To fail is to invite a polio resurgence that would condemn millions of children to lifelong paralysis in the years ahead. The bottom line is this: As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, all children – wherever they live – remain at risk”, said Mr. Patchett, Chairman of Rotary International District 7070’s (southern Ontario) Rotary Foundation and the End polio Now Coordinator for Rotary Clubs in Eastern Canada and northeastern United States. The main objective of Rotary International is service, in the community and throughout the world. As volunteers, Rotarians build goodwill and peace, provide humanitarian service, and encourage high ethical standards in all vocations. Rotary invites the public to support the polio eradication initiative by visiting us on Facebook at End Polio Now and be sure to visit the rotary7070.org website for more information about the Rotary Clubs in Toronto. - 30 - Lets get our message out to the world
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:49:49 +0000
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