Gift to the Children

Rotary International is making an extraordinary gift to the world’s children: more than $120 million to fund polio vaccine and to support a global program of expanded vaccinations to protect against polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and tuberculosis.

Almost all of the service club’s worldwide membership of more than 1 million has been engagedin this PolioPlus campaign, not only raising funds but also participating in voluntary assistance to implement programs in 67 nations in which there are Rotary Clubs. The program will reach other nations as well.

One of the impressive elements of the program is its close coordination with the programs of the United Nations World Health Organization, with the child-survival work of the United Nations Children’s Fund and with such other major donors as the U.S. Agency for International Development. Rotary leaders have drawn particular satisfaction from the role that their contribution is playing in the WHO campaign intended to eradicate polio by the end of the century.

Completion of the PolioPlus campaign, launched in July, 1986, will come on May 24 during the Rotary International convention in Philadelphia.It is already clear that the $120-million goal will be exceeded. Already the Rotary Foundation has approved $78 million in projects, reaching an estimated 417 million children.