UN Foundation
Commends Rotary International For Their Leadership
in the Global Fight to Eradicate Polio
Statement by Ted Turner, Chairman of the Board
of Directors
“We applaud the major
announcement today by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation to help Rotary International launch
a final push to mobilize public concern and private
contributions to help eradicate polio. We’re
almost there. Polio is only endemic in four countries
and this matching grant of $100 million will help
to eliminate this preventable, crippling disease.
With this renewed attention and support, Rotary
will continue its work with the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative led by the World Health Organization,
UNICEF and the United States Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. This tremendous group
effort has helped to drive the number of polio
cases down from more than 350,000 to less than
1,000—a drop of more than 99 percent.
The UN Foundation is proud to have been involved
in this effort for the past decade, and we are
strongly committed to work with Rotary to ensure
that the global effort has the resources needed
to send polio the way of small pox and eliminate
it from the planet.”
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About the United
Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation, created in 1998 with entrepreneur
and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic
$1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities,
builds and implements public-private partnerships
that address the world’s most pressing problems.
Its partnerships and campaigns have global reach,
and cut across diverse issue areas, including:
protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable
development; providing insecticide-treated bed
nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Africa;
and increasing access to technology for international
humanitarian relief and public health workers.
For more information about the United Nations
Foundation, visit www.unfoundation.org.
Press Contact:
Amy DiElsi
Senior Communications Officer
United Nations Foundation
(o) 202-419-3230, (e) adielsi@unfoundation.org
