Almost gone: Tommie Howell speaks on Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio

Members of the Bainbridge Rotary Club met for their weekly meeting at the Kirbo Center on Tuesday. John Wells announced his departure from Rotary at the beginning of the meeting.

Following a few announcements, Rotary President Tommie Howell spoke to the club about the Rotary International organization’s efforts to combat polio. According to his presentation, Rotary has contributed more than $2 billion and immunized more than 3 billion children in 122 countries. Only six cases of wild polio were reported worldwide in 2021, “a reduction of more than 99% since the 1980s, when the world saw approximately 1,000 children paralyzed by polio every day.” The only major countries where pockets of polio remain are Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Howell also presented the club with informative videos, one a news report likening the previous polio epidemics to the COVID pandemic, and another, a presentation from the president of Rotary, Stephanie Urchick.