Leicester goes purple for End Polio Now day

Forty years ago, Rotary launched its campaign to rid the world of polio.

Then, 350,000 people — many of them children — were being disabled and killed by the disease every year.

We started in 1979 with vaccinations for six million children in the Philippines.

Today, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic.

Rotary and other partners stuck at it, raising $1.2 BILLION and immunising more than 2.5 BILLION children.

We have eradicated two of the three strains of the disease.

Wouldn’t you like to be part of such a success story?

You can be, by e-mailing Novus Rotary

Rotary is dedicated to seven areas of focus: to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever.

Promoting peace

Rotary encourages conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. We train adults and young leaders to prevent and mediate conflict and help refugees who have fled dangerous areas.

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Fighting disease

We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.

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Providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene

We support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. We don’t just build wells and walk away. We share our expertise with community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed long-term.

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Saving mothers and children

Nearly 6 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. We expand access to quality care, so mothers and their children can live and grow stronger.

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Supporting education

More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

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Growing local economies

We carry out service projects that enhance economic and community development and create opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old. We also strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.

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Supporting the Environment

More than $18USD million in grant funding from the The Rotary Foundation, Rotary’s own charity, has been given to environmental-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.

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