This year's observance of World Immunization Week, 24-30 April, signals a renewed effort to prevent an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths worldwide from vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio, by closing immunization gaps. The extensive polio-eradication infrastructure created by Rotary, its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and governments and health ministries provides a model for this effort.

Rotary, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) joined together in 1988 to form GPEI with the goal of protecting the world's children by eradicating polio. At that time, the disease paralyzed more than 1,000 people -- most of them young children – worldwide every day. Over the years, Rotary and its partners have reduced the number of polio cases by 99 percent, to fewer than 400 cases in 2014, and there are now only three countries in which polio transmission has never been stopped.

"Rotarians have played a key role in bringing the world to the cusp of polio eradication," says Mike McGovern, chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee. "They have contributed more than $1.3 billion to polio eradication, they have petitioned their governments to support the cause, and they have donated countless hours to immunize children throughout the world. These achievements have laid the groundwork for a lasting legacy for the world's children."

Rotary and its partners are looking to carry out a legacy health plan Ensuring that the knowledge generated and lessons learned from years of polio eradication activities are shared with other health initiatives.