A flag raising at North Battleford City Hall proclaimed the week of Oct. 21 as World Polio Week on behalf of the Rotary Club of the Battlefords. Rotary International has contributed $1.9 billion to fight polio, including countless volunteer hours since launching its polio eradication program, PolioPlus, in 1985. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partership led by national governments and five core partners, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Rotary International has committed to raising $50 million a year to be matched two to one by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the initiative was launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 per cent, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to 33 case of wild poliovirus in 2018. Submitted
