From 350,000 cases a year to fewer than 30 in 2025 - the fight to eradicate polio is one of the great public health stories of our time, and the Rotary Club of Ojai has had skin in the game since day one.
Ending Polio: Rotary's Longest-Running Mission
Rotary International has been fighting to eradicate polio since 1979. When PolioPlus launched in 1985 and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was co-founded in 1988, polio was endemic in 125 countries with an estimated 350,000 cases annually. Today, wild poliovirus remains in only two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is a 99.9% reduction in global cases - and Rotary has been part of every step of that journey.
Since 1985, Rotary International has contributed more than $2.9 billion to the cause and helped secure an additional $11 billion from donor governments, funding the immunization of more than 3 billion children across 122 countries. Right here in the Ojai Valley, our two Rotary clubs have contributed over $400,000 combined, and several of our members have traveled to Africa and India to personally help vaccinate children.
Polio is caused by a highly contagious virus that spreads primarily through contaminated water and food. Most people who are infected have no symptoms - but in a small percentage of cases, the virus invades the nervous system and causes irreversible paralysis, most often in the legs. Children under five are the most vulnerable. There is no cure; there is only prevention through vaccination. The iron lung - a machine that breathed for patients whose chest muscles had been paralyzed - became the defining image of the epidemic era, and entire hospital wards were filled with them during the outbreaks of the 1940s and 1950s. Vaccination ended that. But the virus only needs one unvaccinated community to survive and spread, which is why the final push to zero matters as much as everything that came before it.
The work is not finished. 2024 saw a troubling rise in cases - 99 confirmed worldwide, up from 12 in 2023 - driven largely by Taliban restrictions on house-to-house vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan. Experts estimate that for every known paralytic case, as many as 200 silent infections go undetected, making surveillance and consistent access to children critical. The detection of wild poliovirus in Germany in 2024 was a stark reminder that no country is truly safe until eradication is complete. 2025 has brought renewed hope, with only 28 cases reported through September. The goal is full certification of eradication by 2027.
The Rotary Club of Ojai has been enthusiastic about this fight from the very beginning - joining the PolioPlus program at its launch in 1985 and never looking back. This cause is not abstract for us. It lives in the stories of our own members. Our late member Dana Huffman, who was part of this club from 2004 to 2015, was herself a polio survivor - a living reminder of what this disease takes from people and why finishing the job matters. The story of why this cause lives so close to our hearts also belongs to our member Kathy Yee, whose family survived a devastating polio outbreak in 1951. You can read her moving account in the Ojai Valley News.
How to donate
PolioPlus is an ongoing commitment, not a one-time campaign. Our members give regularly, and donations from the public are always welcome. With the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matching every dollar Rotary raises at a rate of two to one (up to $100 million per year), your contribution is effectively tripled the moment it is made.
Donate online at endpolio.org, or by mail:
The Rotary Foundation 14280 Collections Center Drive Chicago, IL 60693
Please make checks payable to The Rotary Foundation and write "PolioPlus" in the memo line - this ensures your donation is matched and directed to the right fund.