Rockford Rotary raises awareness for World Polio Day

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Rockford Rotary honors World Polio Day by raising awareness and funds to end polio.

World Polio Day is Oct. 24, and the Rockford Rotary Club is working with the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois to encourage donations from community members.

Polio is a preventable disease because of the vaccine, but children are still threatened by it in some parts of the world. The disease is nearly eliminated, but this year, Afghanistan has recorded 19 cases, and Pakistan has 17. There has also been a recent outbreak in Gaza.

Bob Presman, Member of Rockford Rotary, says, “Now we’re seeing a small upward trend with this, especially with the outbreak in Gaza recently. Polio is a terrible disease, it can spread very very easily, and if we don’t eradicate it, if we start backsliding more, we could have 200,000 new cases of the wild polio virus every year. Right now, we’re down to a handful, we don’t want to go back to where we were.”

Northwest Illinois Rotary clubs in Rockford, Loves Park and Cherry Valley have contributed more than $2 million to end polio.

To donate, visit the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois’ website, and for more information, visit the Rockford Rotary website.

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