Polio is 99.9% beaten — and Rotary is back in Pakistan to finish the job

On World Polio Day, Rotary International renewed its commitment to ending polio in Pakistan, one of only two countries where the wild virus still circulates. The scale of what partnership has already achieved is staggering: since Rotary helped found the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, when polio paralysed 350,000 children a year in 125 countries, cases have fallen by more than 99.9%, sparing more than 20 million people from paralysis. Rotary has contributed more than $3 billion globally, and its members in Pakistan have helped protect over 45 million children there. 'Africa's achievement demonstrates that ending polio in Pakistan and eradicating it globally is possible,' said Rotary President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola, who helped lead Nigeria's road to wild-polio-free certification in 2020.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program