October 24th marks World Polio Day, a reminder of how far we’ve come in fighting a disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
Global vaccination efforts have reduced polio cases by 99.9% since 1988, with only Afghanistan and Pakistan still reporting endemic cases. Yet the threat remains. Without continued global action, polio could resurge—causing up to 200,000 new cases annually within a decade.
For more than 35 years, Rotary has been at the forefront of this effort, helping immunize billions of children around the world. The Rotary Club of Springfield, Illinois remains committed to a polio-free future because every child deserves a life free from this preventable disease.
We are grateful that the United States (U.S.) Government, through financial investment and technical expertise by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), previously through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and now through the State Department’s America First Global Health Policy, has been a longstanding leader in the global effort to eradicate polio. U.S. commitment to global polio eradication has spanned several administrations and has been genuinely non-partisan across the decades.
A polio free world will provide the ultimate return on investment as the benefits accrue in perpetuity. We encourage continued U.S. leadership in the fight to make polio the second human disease eradicated from our world. Together, we can end polio for good.
Learn more or get involved at www.endpolio.org(https://www.endpolio.org/).
Global vaccination efforts have reduced polio cases by 99.9% since 1988, with only Afghanistan and Pakistan still reporting endemic cases. Yet the threat remains. Without continued global action, polio could resurge—causing up to 200,000 new cases annually within a decade.
For more than 35 years, Rotary has been at the forefront of this effort, helping immunize billions of children around the world. The Rotary Club of Springfield, Illinois remains committed to a polio-free future because every child deserves a life free from this preventable disease.
We are grateful that the United States (U.S.) Government, through financial investment and technical expertise by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), previously through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and now through the State Department’s America First Global Health Policy, has been a longstanding leader in the global effort to eradicate polio. U.S. commitment to global polio eradication has spanned several administrations and has been genuinely non-partisan across the decades.
A polio free world will provide the ultimate return on investment as the benefits accrue in perpetuity. We encourage continued U.S. leadership in the fight to make polio the second human disease eradicated from our world. Together, we can end polio for good.
Learn more or get involved at www.endpolio.org(https://www.endpolio.org/).
Sincerely,
John Webb
President
Rotary Club of Springfield
Editor's Note: In recognition of World Polio Day, John Webb sent this letter to the editors of the Chicago Tribune, State Journal-Register, and the Illinois Times.