Rotary International and Global Poverty Project support polio eradication efforts

WHAT'S THE ISSUE?

Thanks to global efforts, polio has been reduced by 99.9% since 1988. The world stands on the brink of eradication in the next few years, with the chance to make polio only the second ever human disease to be eradicated.

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the international partnership that coordinates eradication efforts, needs more than US $1billion a year to help achieve this goal with funding coming from a wide range of people, non-profits, philanthropists and governments, including the United States Government.

Global citizens in the USA have been campaigning on polio since 2012. We’re committed to seeing the end of polio.

HOW DID GLOBAL CITIZENS RESPOND?

Global citizens have taken over 60,000 actions to support polio eradication. We’ve sent thousands of emails to leaders like Senator Leahy, Senator Moran, Senator Graham, Senator Murray, Congressman Kingston, and Congressman Hoyer to thank them for their dedication to ending polio and to ask for their continued support.

Recently, students at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey hosted a presentation of Global Poverty Project's 1.4 Billion Reasons that addresses the issues of extreme poverty and gives participants suggestions on ways that they can take action and join the movement to end extreme poverty. As part of the presentation, students across campus wrote letters to Senator Menendez (D-NJ) who serves as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

Senator Menendez contacted the Global Poverty Project offices to thank global citizens for their letters and statements of support. Senator Menendez explained, “I believe that as a world leader, the United States has a moral obligation to fight polio and other dangerous diseases. As you noted, the world is close to fully eradicating polio; Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only remaining countries in which the disease is endemic. I believe the support of the United States government can help to complete the task Jonas Salk set out to achieve over 60 years ago.”

Senator Menendez acknowledged the letters from global citizens and explained that in February 2014 the Senate voted unanimously to pass resolution 270 which commends the international community and others for their efforts to prevent and eradicate polio. He confirmed, “As the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I support the eradication of polio”.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It is essential that global citizens keep up the momentum and urge the United States government to continue providing key funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Global citizens will continue to keep the pressure on congressional leaders to support all efforts to eradicate polio, ensuring that the United States continues to play a leadership role in ridding the world of polio forever.