Rotary Foundation

Rotary Foundation

The Rotary Foundation is Rotary's own charity. It is supported by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation and generous donations from the general public who share its vision of a better world.

Rotary Foundation in the United Kingdom (RFUK) is an Associate Foundation of the international charitable trust. Based at Alcester in Warwickshire, RFUK handles Gift Aid, legacies, covenants and ordinary contributions from Rotarians and individuals.

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

Education

The Rotary Foundation has become one of the foremost non-governmental foundations with the educational support programme being the largest private scholarship endowment in the world.

Education is a primary concern of Rotary International and the organisation runs a range of scholarships aimed at encouraging personal development while at the same time helping to further world understanding.

Ambassadorial Scholarships - The programme sponsors different types of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students to study at universities abroad.

Rotary World Peace Fellowships - A unique Rotary scheme aimed at helping to promote world understanding and reduce conflict. Rotary sponsors 60 fellows a year to study at one of the seven Rotary Centres for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution.

Rotary Youth Exchange is widely regarded as one of the best youth exchange programmes in the world. It could be a two week camp or a full year's study in another country. Participants broaden their minds and their horizons.

Polio Eradication

Since making the pledge in 1985 to eradicate polio - its most ambitious programme to date - Rotary International in partnership with health agencies has brought the number of cases of polio down by 99 percent.

Where there were 350,000 new cases of the disease every year, there were just over one thousand by the end of 2010. This last one percent must be wiped out to make sure no child falls prey to this paralysing and sometimes fatal illness.

Polio is the shortened name of poliomyelitis, the crippling disease caused by the polio virus. One in 200 cases results in paralysis, which leads to the limbs of the victim becoming limp and disfigured. The paralysis is almost always irreversible. Historically, polio has been the world's greatest cause of disability.

The world has progressed from having 125 polio endemic countries to having two; Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Regular immunisation activities in these countries, supported by Rotary members from Great Britain and Ireland and across the world, are having a positive impact, as of August 2018 there were only 3 cases in Pakistan and 12 in Afghanistan.

During national immunisation days (NID) in India, as many as 65-million children can be immunised. Volunteers hold these days every six weeks and will visit remote villages and the slum areas to deliver the life-saving vaccine. Booths are set up in major cities, attracting school children and families, who will travel for miles to protect their children.

Polio can strike at any age but currently affects mainly children under five years of age in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is passed through person-to-person contact and is most prevalent in overcrowded conditions where standards of hygiene are poor. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

Because there is no cure, the best protection against polio is prevention. For as little as 25p worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life.

We have not had polio in Great Britain and Ireland for a long time now, yet many people aged 60 and over will remember fears about the use of swimming pools or swimming in the sea during hot summers and have vivid memories of victims in iron lungs.

Polio knows no borders and carriers frequently move from one country to another. The virus can therefore reappear in previously polio free countries.

If polio isn't eradicated, the world will continue to live under the threat of the disease. More than 10 million children could be paralysed in the next 40 years if the world fails to capitalise on its US$4 billion global investment in eradication.

Polio continues to be an issue which is of great concern across the world and has not escaped the notice of world leaders. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in Australia, October 2011, millions of dollars were pledged to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. In total, $100m is being donated by three Commonwealth countries with $40m from Bill Gates.

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