Rotary's top philanthropic goal is to end polio worldwide. We call the effort PolioPlus.

Polio, a crippling and sometimes deadly disease, still threatens children in parts of Africa and Asia. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. It is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Amongst those paralysed, 5%-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life. For as little as US 60 cents worth of oral polio vaccine, a child can be protected against polio for life. Rotary members have donated their time and money to help immunize more than 2 billion children in 122 countries.

Rotary is the largest private supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, committing more than US$600 million dollars and thousands of volunteers to the effort. Tremendous progress has been made toward ending polio worldwide. In the 1980s, every day 1,000 children were infected by this crippling disease. In the two decades since Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, polio cases have been slashed by 99 percent. (350,000 cases in 1988 to just under 700 reported cases at the end of in 2003).

Rotary and its Partners will continue the fight until the world is certified polio-free and every child is safe from this devastating disease. It will happen!