Rotary and the Gates Foundation are renewing their longstanding partnership to end polio, announcing a joint commitment of up to US$450 million to support the global polio eradication effort.  The Botany Randwick Rotary Club has been a long-term supporter of this Program. 

“While historic progress has been made toward defeating polio—90 percent of the world’s population is free from the wild poliovirus—we’re facing significant challenges from competing financial priorities to fragile health systems. Furthermore, the detection of polio in places like Papua New Guinea that were previously polio free demonstrates that polio anywhere is a threat everywhere,” said Rotary International PolioPlus Committee Chair Mike McGovern. “The extension of our fundraising partnership with the Gates Foundation allows us to reach children around the world with lifesaving vaccines, keeping every child and community safe from this preventable disease.”