World Rotary Day (23 February) is being marked in Southern Wales by Rotarians from the area celebrating the milestone $1 million they have raised towards the major goal of eradicating Polio worldwide. The money raised is specifically towards polio eradication and is in addition to the many thousands of pounds Rotary Clubs raise for local and international projects each year.
Since Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) over 30 years ago, the incidence of polio has plummeted from about 350,000 cases a year in 125 countries to173 cases in 2019. Just two countries still report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. In order to sustain this progress, around 2 billion doses of the vaccine still have to be given to more than 400 million children in up to 60 countries every single year.