RI president Message

March 2009

At the International Assembly in January, we were privileged to host a special guest from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Microsoft founder Bill Gates Jr., who had come to speak to the incoming Rotary officers on the Gates Foundation’s involvement in PolioPlus. A few moments into his remarks, the room erupted in cheers at the announcement that Rotary’s US$100 Million Challenge had become Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge: The Gates Foundation would commit an additional $250 million of funding, over and above its initial $100 million contribution, and Rotary would agree to raise an additional $100 million match by 30 June 2012.

This is a tremendous vote of confidence in our work, and its implications are spectacular. When we succeed in meeting this challenge, Rotary and the Gates Foundation will have brought an additional $555 million of new funding to the polio eradication effort, at the time when it is most needed. Only four countries are still polio endemic, but those four present the greatest practical and epidemiological challenges. We are close to the final hurdle of this race – but the final hurdle is also the highest and will require the greatest effort from us all.

This money will be used for operational support, surveillance, and social mobilization – vital aspects for the success of the campaign. In order to make the world polio-free, we must be vigilant for signs of new cases, we must coordinate well-planned and well-executed immunization days, and we must keep all our efforts organized for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The hiring of town criers, the purchase of megaphones, the transportation of lab samples and vaccines, the mapping of villages to be sure not one child is missed – all of these needs are being met with the support of this challenge grant.

We are already close to halfway to raising our first $100 million; in the three years ahead, we must, and will, raise a full $200 million. We ask every Rotary club to carry out at least one fundraising event for polio eradication in each of these three years, and we especially ask newer Rotarians, and newer clubs, to be a strong part of this effort. We are so close to eradicating polio.

We are so close to making this Rotary dream real. We should all be part of this incredible effort and this page in Rotary history.

Dong Kurn (D.K.) Lee
President, Rotary International