Bill Gates the Richard Dimbleby Lecture 2013. Copyright: BCC. Photo Credit: Guy Lev.
On 30 January, Bill Gates released his annual letter highlighting the power
of data and measurement to help lift the world's most needy up from poverty.
The letter included a section on mapping the end of polio.
Through innovative use of technology and new mapping techniques, more children will be able to receive polio immunizations. By increasing the immunization rate, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative will be able to provide greater protection from polio and eradicate this crippling disease.
“The measurement systems put in place by the eradication initiative will be invaluable for other health care activities, including routine vaccination of infants, which means the legacy of polio eradication will live beyond stopping a disease that once paralyzed over 400,000 children every year,” Bill Gates, Co-chair, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The same morning, Mr. Gates appeared on the NBC Today show to talk about the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. During the interview, Mr. Gates said that the Foundation’s vaccine effort has contributed to eradicating polio around the world, and mentioned Rotary’s website [endpolio.org] as a good place to make a donation to the cause.
Mr. Gates also praised Rotary and the work of Rotarians in the fight to end polio in his speech at the Royal Institution to honor Richard Dimbleby on 29 January in London. He said: “Rotarians pledge to put service above self, their motto, but they have no specific global health mandate. They are not polio experts. They are regular people who go to work and spend time with their families. For three decades, they have also spent time advocating for polio eradication, raising money to support vaccination, and giving kids polio drops all over the world.”
Read the letter and share your voice in the fight to end polio.