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Community Corner

Polio is 'Only a Plane Ride from Affecting Any Country, Anytime'

Roswell Rotarians were recently reminded that the fight to eradicate the crippling disease is still ongoing.

Recently, Charlene Hall shared just how close the world is from eradicating polio with the Roswell Rotary Club - but we're not there yet.

As of 2012, only three countries still experience active polio cases: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Over the past three decades, Rotary International has raised more than $1 billion dollars and committed countless volunteer hours to fight the disease. 

In 1985, when Rotary first began the fight to end polio, there were 350,000 cases. Last year ended with the lowest number of new polio cases, at only 250. Through the efforts of Rotarians around the world teaming with non-Rotarians, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, eradication of the crippling, and sometimes fatal disease, is closer than ever.

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Hall reminded Roswell Rotarians to continue to support and give to Rotary International’s Polio Plus fund. While we tend to think of polio as something that happens in remote countries, it is only a plane ride away from affecting any country at any time.

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