Marking 113 years with another push to end polio

As part of a yearlong celebration to mark Rotary’s 113th anniversary and its 33rd year in the fight to end polio, Rotary clubs worldwide are holding events, and raising funds and awareness  to eradicate polio, a potentially fatal disease – once and for all.

The Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood and its members will have contributed more than $2,500 this Rotary year (July 2017 to June 2018), to help eradicate polio from the world. The money has come from fundraising events like the Annual Rotary Reverse Draw, Dinner & Silent Auction (scheduled for May 10, 2018) at the Oshawa Golf Club.

These Rotary donations from the Club and from its members follows a succession of significant developments that have brought the world closer to eradicating the second disease.

Rotary launched its flagship PolioPlus program in 1985, and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the global initiative began in 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99 per cent, from about 350,000 cases a year in 1988, to less than 370 in 2014; 102 in 2015 ;  37 in 2016, and 21 in 2017 (with these cases occurring in just two countries in 2017: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood supports many community service projects such as:  The Kids Safety Village of Durham Region, hospital equipment for Lakeridge Health Oshawa , the Colonel R.S. McLaughlin Regional Cancer Centre, Participation House (for mentally and physically challenged adults), Grandview Children’s Centre, The Salvation Army, Simcoe Hall Settlement House, Durham College’s new Centre for Collaborative Education , UOIT,  various youth programs at Durham Region YMCA,  the Eradication of Polio through Rotary International’s End Polio Now Campaign,  and assistance for students at Mary Street Community School.