World Polio Day Event 2016

Rotary leaders and top health experts from around the world convened in Atlanta, USA on 24 October to celebrate World Polio Day to reflect on the year's progress and discuss what is needed to end the disease for good. More than 200 people were in attendance while thousands more watched the event online. The total number of cases worldwide so far this year is 27, compared with 51 for the same period last year. Unfortunately, Nigeria slipped back onto the list of countries where polio is endemic this year, after cases appeared in the northern state of Borno. This hasn't stopped Rotary and its partners who are working with the Nigerian government, Chad, Cameroun, and parts of the Central African Republic, from executing a sweeping emergency response. Apart from updates about polio, delegates were also privy to a virtual reality presentation which transported them to the streets of India and Kenya, where they interacted with polio survivors and heard their stories. Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion to polio eradication since taking on the virus in 1979. Edited extract from article by Ryan Hyland, Rotary News 24 October 2016; full story available from www.rotary.org