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      PolioPlus Updates 2002

      Grand Duke of Luxembourg receives Polio Eradication Champion Award
       

      Rotary International presented Grand Duke Henry of Luxembourg with the Polio Eradication Champion Award on 4 July, in recognition of the country's
      outstanding financial contribution to polio eradication.

      "On behalf of Rotary volunteers worldwide, I am honored to give this award for the polio eradication support by the government of Luxembourg," said
      Rotary Foundation Trustee John Kenny at the Palace of Luxembourg.  "As we stand on the brink of victory over polio, contributions like this are still urgently needed as a funding gap and current world instability threaten our ability to immunize every child by 2005."

      "I am greatly honored to receive this award from Rotary International, the organization that sparked this global effort and remains focused on achieving its goal of a polio-free world," said Grand Duke Henry.
      "Luxembourg is committed to continuing its support of polio eradication, an objective that will benefit the entire global community."

      Luxembourg has made the highest per capita (US$8.30 per capita) contribution of any donor nation to the polio eradication initiative in 2001. The
      government made its first commitment to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in autumn of 2001 with a contribution of EUR3,510,000 (approximately US$3.2 million) towards immunization activities in the
      six African countries of Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mali, Namibia, Niger, and Senegal.

      The Polio Eradication Champion Award was established in 1995 to recognize world leaders who have made outstanding contributions toward the goal of global polio eradication.  Past recipients include former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former UK Prime Minister John Major, First Lady of Egypt Mrs.
      Suzanne Mubarak, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, Germany's
      Minister of Economic Development and Cooperation Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, and the Netherlands' Minister for Development Cooperation Eveline Herfkens.

      Rotary reaches out to governments worldwide to obtain vital financial and technical support. Through skillful advocacy work, Rotary members, in
      collaboration with partner organizations, have helped deliver more than $1 billion of funding to the program from donor governments. That amount, combined with direct funds from Rotary, is more than half the money
      needed for the entire global polio eradication program.

      The World Health Organization estimates $1billion is needed in the period of 2002-2005 for the purchase of oral polio vaccine, operational expenses, and
      poliovirus surveillance. Of this, some $725 million has been committed by national governments and other organizations, leaving a funding gap of $275
      million.  Rotary is carrying out the Polio Eradication Fundraising Campaign in 2002-03 to help bridge this gap.  Overall, Rotary will have committed a half billion US dollars to the polio effort through 2005.

      Polio eradication is now extremely close to completion. From 2000 to 2001, the number of polio-endemic countries was reduced from 20 to 10.  The number of new cases globally was slashed by more than 80 percent, from 2,979 in  2000 to 480 in 2001.  This represents a more than 99 percent reduction since 1988, when polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children annually in 125 countries.