World Polio Day

There are generations of children growing up who have never heard of polio let alone seen its effects first-hand. 

In fact, the few reported cases of polio are now limited to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. The Rotary Club of Richmond Hill, and other Toronto area Rotary Clubs continue the important historical work of Rotary with efforts to eradicate polio in our lifetime. Polio Plus was launched in 1985 by Rotary which became the first and largest internationally coordinated private sector support of a public health initiative.

Today, Global Polio Eradication Initiative along with Rotary International, the World Health Organization, Unicef as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have joined forces to continue efforts to eliminate polio from our planet.

In its worst form, polio can cause paralysis.

In Richmond Hill yesterday, we raised the End Polio Now flag to bring awarenewss of our struggle to rid the world of this terrible disease.  We were honoured to be joined my Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow, Dr. Bob Scott, former head of Rotary's worldwide polio committee, and Dr. Raffy Chouljian and Jennifer Boyd who climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise funds against polio. 

To see more of Raffy's and Jennifer's story, go to  http://www.conquerpolio.org

To donate in the fight against polio, go to www.endpolio.org