…. from RI News
An article in the July issue of
The Economist magazine about the efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) did not mention Rotary.
John Hewko, Rotary’s general
secretary and chief executive officer, responded with an August letter to the
editor that described Rotary as a big partner in the GPEI, one that has
contributed more than $1 billion to polio eradication efforts. He noted thatIndia has not had a new case of polio in the past six months. Hewko also stated that Rotary welcomes the Inde-pendent Monitoring Board’s assessment, and he
urged government and private-sector donors to step up to help meet the funding gap.
In a portion of the let-ter that was edited out by The
Economist, he wrote: “Rotary’s role — through our network of 1.2 million
mem-bers in 200 countries and regions — is to raise awareness and
critically-needed funds to end this crippling disease once and for all. That
includes donating countless volunteer hours to reach children worldwide withthe oral polio vaccine.”
