Gilford Rotary donates towards eradication of polio

GILFORD — Gilford Rotarians have donated $3,400 to help eradicate polio. In 1985, Rotary, which is an international community that brings together leaders who step up to take on the world’s toughest challenges, locally and globally, made a promise to the children of the world that they would work towards eradicating polio. Polio is a deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five. The virus is spread from person to person typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system which can then paralyze a child.

The eradication of polio is one of Rotary’s longest standing and most significant effort and Rotary has helped to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Rotary has reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and won’t stop until they end the disease for good.

The average cost to totally immunize a child is $3 with $.90 itself for the actual vaccine.

Although polio has been eradicated from the US, it is only an airplane ride away that could bring this disease back.

Polio eradication will be one of history’s greatest public health achievements following smallpox to become only the second human disease eradicated from the world thanks to the help of Rotary, WHO, CDC, UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We will eradicate polio.