Today is “World Polio Day”.
World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), of which Rotary International is a crucial component, in 1988. Since then, GPEI has reduced polio worldwide by 99%.
However, in 2012, transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus continued in three countries: Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In April 2012, the World Health Assembly declared the completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency for global public health.
Please take the time to read these articles:
http://wpd.typepad.com/worldpolioday/2013/10/today-is-world-polio-day.html
http://www.endpolio.org/
Rotary Club of Toronto Skyline 