From the October Rotary Magazine-World Polio Day is October 24

This October marks the 100th anniversary of Dr. Salk's birth. I (Ruth) use to work for a heath insurance company. We still had polio lines of coverage showing on the hard copies some of our long standing group medical plans we handled when I joined the company in the late 70's.

When the vaccine was introduced in the US in the 1950's polls indicated that polio was one of the nation's two greatest fears, second only to the fear of atomic war. In the 1952 polio epidemic, 58,000 cases were reported, with 3,145 deaths and 21,269 instances of permanent, disabling paralysis. Globally, polio paralyzed or killed up to half a million people every year.

When the 166 member states of the World health Assembly unanimously set the goal of global polio eradication in in 1988 many in the world called the goal impossible.

Today, we are "this close" to the goal with only a few hundred cases of polio reported each year, and just three remaining endemic countries. We are on track to achieve full eradication by 2018 if we keep up the momentum that has brought us this far.

When you make a donation to polio eradication on the endpolionow.org there will be a two to one match on your contribution from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.