Last year at this time, our club conducted a “Pennies for Polio” campaign in recognition of World Polio Day every year on October 24. We don’t have anything special planned this year but polio is a major topic in the October issue of your Rotary magazine. Here are some highlights:
Front cover: A polio worker with a container of vaccines
Page 1: RI President Yinka’s monthly column. He acknowledges the tremendous progress in eradicating polio but reminds us that “99.9% is not 100%.” The wild polio virus remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Page 17: A survivor’s story. Billy Louis, a Rotarian in Maryland, was a 3-year old in Haiti when he contracted polio. He recounts his experiences as an inspiration to us in our quest to eradicate the disease.
Page 22: The memory ward. Dr. Arthur Lavin, co-founder of Grandparents for Vaccines, highlights personal narratives from grandparents sharing memories of lost siblings and childhood struggles with polio, issuing a call to protect future generations against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Page 26: On the +plus side. Rotary and its PolioPlus partners are delivering much more than vaccines. Here are some details.
Page 36: Picturing … Dorothy Horstman. This in-depth article documents the overlooked legacy a groundbreaking epidemiologist whose crucial discovery of how the polio virus travels through the bloodstream paved the way for the Salk and Sabin vaccines.
Page 56: Polio Basics. This colorful two-page spread outlines what every Rotarian needs to know to be conversant in the disease and its vaccines as World Polio Day approaches. As always, the website at www.endpolio.org has details and updates on progress.
Inside back cover: A flyer for World Polio Day
World Polio Day is October 24. Foundation Month is November where you will be invited to contribute to PolioPlus. Donations to PolioPlus will count toward your first or next Paul Harris Fellowship. You can see your PHF account by logging into your My Rotary account. As a bonus, your donation will be matched 2:1 by the Gates Foundation.
