We are this close to ending Polio!
As of December 12th 2012, there was only one New Case of WPV1 polio that was reported from AFGHANISTAN. Seven New Cases of WPV were reported from NIGERIA and of these, 5 are of WPV1 and 2 of WPV3. (The 2 new WPV3 cases reported are particularly concerning, as Nigeria is now the only country in the world reporting cases due to this strain over the past six months).
No new cases of WPV were reported from PAKISTAN.
- Total number of cases in 2011: 650
- Total number of cases in 2012: 213
- This is compared to 1988: 35,000
Those working to eradicate Polio are:
- WHO (World Health Organization)
- UNICEF
- US Centers for Disease Control
- Various governments
- The Government of Canada is the eighth largest donor in the world.
- Bill & Melinda Gates foundation
As part of the Pennies and More for Polio campaign – both the Canadian government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have just pledged to match Rotary donations (up to March 30th, 2013) dollar-for-dollar (up to $1 million each). This provides the opportunity to raise up to $3 million dollars more to fight Polio.
In ONE single National Immunization Day in India, over 125 million children received the two drops of polio vaccine.
The money raised is for:
- Operational support
- Labor intensive process to report all potential polio cases
- Ensuring the polio vaccine reaches all children
- $60 immunizes 100 children against polio
- $100 – 200 provides posters promoting immunization
- $250 – 500 provides aprons to identify health workers, volunteers and vaccinators
- $500 – 4,000 finger markers to identify immunized children
- $1,000 – provides 700 Styrofoam vaccine carriers
- Surveillance
- Social mobilization
- Raise community awareness of polio immunization activities and the benefits of immunization
- Research
- Scientifically-based activities to provide data to ensure it’s working
For more information, please visit the official PolioPlus website.