Rotary gets $200 million grant to help fight polio
Rotary International recently announced a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed $200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East -- and threatens children everywhere.
The Rotary Foundation has received a $100 million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary will raise funds to match, dollar-for-dollar, over three years.
The Evanston-based volunteer service organization will spend the initial $100 million within one year in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.
Local clubs throughout the area have been in support of this project.
To date, the Rotary Club of Crystal Lake Dawnbreakers has contributed more than $40,000 toward the cause with additional local Rotary clubs such as the Algonquin/Lake in the Hills, Cary Grove, Huntley, McHenry, Richmond, Morning Woodstock and Woodstock clubs contributing as well.
The polio eradication grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation, and the largest grant received by Rotary in its 102-year history.
Polio eradication has been Rotary's top priority since 1985. Since then, Rotary has contributed $633 million to the eradication effort.
"Rotary members worldwide have worked very hard over the years to reach this point, and it is rewarding to see our approach validated in such a significant way by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation," said Dr. Robert Scott, who leads Rotary's polio eradication effort and chairs the Rotary Foundation, the nonprofit charitable arm of Rotary that will administer the grant.
Most of the initial $100 million will be spent in support of mass immunization campaigns in polio-affected countries, poliovirus surveillance activities and community education and outreach.
The grant also will support an expanded research agenda on ways to halt the spread of the polio virus. Rotary will distribute the funds through grants to WHO and UNICEF.