Fighting Disease
Rotary educates and equips communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We also work to improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.
We believe good health care is everyone’s right. Yet 400 million people in the world can’t afford or don’t have access to basic health care.
Ending Polio
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary is close to eliminating polio, with a 99% reduction in cases worldwide since 1985. However, polio knows no borders, and the virus can therefore reappear in previously polio-free countries. That is why Rotary International and its partners have been relentless in this fight.
Rotary’s program to eradicate polio, called PolioPlus, has been Rotary International’s primary effort for over 35 years and has been described as the finest humanitarian project by a nongovernmental organization the world has ever known. Rotary has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts.
Rotary members also lead efforts to fight and prevent a host of diseases from malaria to diabetes, and provide health care and education.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But continuing the fight to keep other countries polio-free is crucial. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
Bottom photo: Pinkie fingers stained with topical purple dye to prevent double dosages have become a symbol of Rotary’s eradication efforts.
How We Help
Our District and Clubs raise awareness and thousands of dollars each year to end polio around the world and prevent diseases through clean water and sanitation programs. Area clubs have also organized Visiting Training Teams which train medical professionals either here in the U.S. or in their native country.
The NE Philadelphia, Cheltenham, Rockledge club developed and organized a team to train graduates of nursing schools in Haiti, called HEAL Pignon. Why? Because in Haiti, more than half of the population lacks access to health services and there is a dire need for skilled health workers who are often ill-equipped to real-world clinical situations.
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Medical Missions to help families and their children who are experiencing the burden of cleft lip and/or cleft palate, burn scarring and other deformities.
Many countries lack the medical resources to help children with cleft lip or cleft palate, leaving them to suffer from social rejection and poor health. Rotaplast International Inc works with Rotary, local professionals and other organizations to send multidisciplinary medical teams to provide free reconstructive surgery, ancillary treatment, and training for comprehensive care for children.
Rotaplast was founded in 1992, initially as a service project by members of the Rotary Club of San Francisco to facilitate a surgical program in La Serena, Chile. Since its inception, Rotaplast medical teams and volunteers served more than 21,000 children and families in 26 countries in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.
A typical team — usually 30 medical and non-medical members — run three operating rooms daily for six to eight days. Each operating room requires a plastic surgeon, an anesthesiologist, an operating room nurse, and other support volunteers. Medical professionals include a dentist, orthodontist, and speech pathologist.
Each year, members of the Rotary District 7450 Rotaplast Committee provide financial support and volunteers. These volunteers support the mission by maintaining medical records, sterilizing instruments, and managing children’s wards. All members are invited to join the Rotaplast Committee and participate in this great humanitarian work. Our clubs have sponsored missions annually for more than 27 years in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and South and Central America.
7-month-old Manuel and his family, Apartado, Columbia (above)
