For more than 45 years, Rotary and its public-health partners have worked to eradicate polio. That worldwide campaign has reduced polio cases by 99.9%, leaving wild poliovirus endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The finish line is within reach, but the work must continue until every child is protected.
Webster Groves Rotary completed a three-year, $3,000 commitment to PolioPlus, adding a local promise to that worldwide effort.
A long effort sustained club by club
Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985 and helped establish the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. The work has required vaccination campaigns, disease surveillance, public-health partnerships, and continued attention in places where conflict or access makes every step harder.
The Webster Groves commitment is historic, while polio eradication remains an enduring Rotary priority. Its lesson is not that one donation finished the work. It is that thousands of local commitments, maintained over many years, can support a goal no club or organization could reach alone.
See Rotary International’s current progress toward ending polio.