As Nigeria joins the rest of the world in celebrating World Polio Day coming up on the 24th of this   month, Rotary District 9124 has declared that polio could be the first human disease of the 21st   century to be eradicated. Speaking to journalists yesterday in Abuja to flag off the four-day event, the chairman, Nigeria National Polio Plus Committee, Dr. Tunji Funsho said for as little as US60 cents worth of vaccine,   a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. He said, “After an international investment of more than $9 billion, and the successful engagement of over 20 countries and 20 million volunteers, polio could be the first human disease of the 21st   century to be eradicated.”

He reiterated that polio eradication is Rotary’s top philanthropic goals as it has spent over $270   million on polio activities in Nigeria alone. According to Funsho, since the global initiative began more than 26 years ago, Rotary has contributed over $1.9 billion globally and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries. He said this effort has helped in reducing polio cases by 99.9 per cent worldwide, saying, “over 99   per cent of the children of the world have received polio vaccine. You can find polio only in two nations, not in the 125 countries when we started in 1988.”

Source:Leadership Online