On World Polio Day, October 24, people around the globe participated in the World’s Biggest Commercial, promoting the international effort to eradicate polio.
The innovative, interactive online initiative gave everyone a chance to join Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates, Jackie Chan, Angelique Kidjo, and other world figures and celebrities who have already joined in Rotary’s This Close campaign in support of polio eradication. Participants could upload photos of themselves to Rotary’s polio eradication website, endpolionow.org, to be edited into the expanding promotional spot. They received an email with a direct link to their image and comment within the commercial.
Rotary is also releasing End Polio Now, an eclectic album of songs performed by its celebrity polio eradication ambassadors from the music industry. The lineup includes several polio survivors: violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, folk rock musician Donovan, and Staff Benda Bilili,
a Congolese soukous band scheduled to launch its U.S. tour in Los
Angeles on World Polio Day. The End Polio Now album is available for download on iTunes, and soon as a CD, with all proceeds from sales going to PolioPlus.
Although new polio cases are at an all-time low — there were fewer than 180 worldwide as of October 16, 2012 — a funding gap has already curtailed scheduled immunization activities in polio-affected countries. If eradication fails and polio rebounds, up to 200,000 children per year could be paralyzed.