Special Postal Cover released honouring Rotary’s service in Polio Eradication from India

The Government of India through the Indian Postal Department recognized Rotary’s service in making India Polio-free by release of Special Postal Cover on the eve of World Polio Day – an honour which Rotary fully deserves according to Smt. Rajashree Birla who was the Chief Guest at the event organized at the Rotary Service Centre in Juhu, Mumbai by India National PolioPlus Committee of Rotary International and Rotary Club of Bombay West to celebrate ‘Four Years of Polio-free India’.

Speaking at the function, Smt. Birla paid rich tributes to the members of Rotary in India for having so dedicatedly worked towards the mission and successfully eradicated the dreaded disease from our country. She urged Rotary to continue to work with the same spirit to keep India polio-free while at the same time look at supporting the Government’s National Immunization Programme in their respective neighbourhoods.  So far, Smt.Rajashree Birla and Aditya Birla Group have donated over USD 9 mn to the Rotary Foundation’s Polio Fund, which shows her deep commitment to the cause.

Shri Hamid Patel, Senior Superintendent of Post – Mumbai South, Shri Ashok Mahajan, Past Rotary International Director, Shri Deepak Kapur, Chairman, India National PolioPlus Committee of Rotary International, Shri Subhash Kulkarni, District Governor of Rotary District 3140 and Shri Aslam Merchant, President (2016-17) of Rotary Club of Bombay West also graced the occasion with several officials from Government Health Services, IndiaPost, WHO, UNICEF and Rotary Clubs spread across Mumbai and Thane District.

This event comes at an important time in the fight to eradicate polio, which would be only the second human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox. In September, the World Health Organization declared Africa’s last polio-endemic country, Nigeria, polio-free, leaving only two countries which have never stopped the virus: Pakistan and Afghanistan.  In 1988, when Rotary and its partners committed to eradicating the disease, polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children per year in 125 countries – or, more than 1,000 per day. Since that time, the number of polio cases has been reduced by 99.9%, with less than 50 cases in two countries to date in 2015.

Rotary has contributed more than US$1.4 billion to ending polio. Funds contributed to Rotary are tripled thanks to a 2:1 match by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rotary is joined in the fight to end polio by its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership that also includes the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.