Media spotlights global polio eradication, Rotary’s role

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, including Rotary’s role as a spearheading partner, continues to generate coverage in the news media and on social networks. The Washington Post ran an editorial in support of the initiative, which mentioned Rotary’s achievement in raising more than US$200 million to match the $355 million in challenge grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rotary’s End Polio Now Facebook page reached almost 226,000 people during the week of 9-15 July. A “This Close” public service announcement (PSA) on international cricketing superstar Shahid Afridi of Pakistan received 634 likes, 10,074 shares, and 54 comments on the End Polio Now Facebook page; and 933 likes, 368 shares, and 26 comments on the Rotary Facebook page. Bill Gates also shared the PSA on his Facebook page, which has more than 1.5 million followers, where it received 3,123 likes, 437 shares, and 242 comments.

Earlier this year, news of India’s milestone achievement of going one year without polio and Rotary’s leading role garnered coverage in the Associated Press, The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Reuters, and other major media.

A profile of Ann Lee Hussey, who has traveled the world to immunize children against polio and is chair of the Rotarian Action Group for Polio Survivors and Associates, appeared in REAL SIMPLE magazine.

• Read a Rotary Voices blog post by Robert S. Scott, Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee chair, on Pakistan’s progress in polio eradication.
• Read about the Global Polio Eradication Emergency Action Plan.
• See an infographic illustrating how close the world is to eradicating polio and what's needed to finish the job.
• Contribute to help End Polio Now.