"Pakistan PolioPlus Chair Abdul Aziz Memon, PolioPlus Director Carol Pandak, and Global Polio Eradication Initiative Director Hamid Jafari at the International Assembly, 21 January 2016, San Diego,"
 
Could 2016 be the year of the final Polio Case?
The continent of Africa has now gone 17 months without a Polio case and Syria has now gone 2 years without a Polio case.
Pakistan….NO Polio cases reported in 2016 with 53 in all of last year
Afghanistan…NO Polio cases reported in 2016 with 19 in 2015
 
Did you know….”there are three strains of the polio virus.  Last year, the Polio Eradication Global Certification Committee certified that no natural cases of type 2 have occurred since 1999 and that the virus had been eradicated?  From a public health perspective, it is no longer acceptable to be causing the disease with the weakened form of type 2 when it no longer exists in nature.  So during a two week period at the end of April all countries that are currently using oral polio vaccine either in routine programs or in campaigns (there are 155 such places), will switch from the bivalent oral (which contains weakened forms of all three types) to a bivalent which only contains type 1 and 3.
At the same time, we are introducing the injectable inactivated polio virus vaccine which contains all three types of the virus in a killed form, into routine immunization systems.  This will ensure that people continue to have protection and immunity against type 2 in case an outbreak were to occur, either from vaccine not entirely removed or because of an accident at a laboratory or manufacturer.”    (from Michel Zaffran, WHO’s new Director of Polio Eradication)
CHALLENGE: Each Rotarian give just 25-35 dollars or more before July 1st
       Donations will be matched 2 to 1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.          All money will count for our district 5790 Polio giving this year.