Thursday, June 11, 2009

Polio Fight Connects Seattle & India

Watch our friend/supporter/volunteer/colleague/fellow humanitarian Penny LeGate in action:

Polio Fight Connects Seattle & India
CityStream Thursday, June 11, 7 p.m.

SEATTLE — This week on CityStream, Penny LeGate travels to India to report on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s $355 million partnership with Rotary International to eradicate polio.

Once polio ravaged the entire world, including the United States, but through the use of vaccine, the disease has been virtually eradicated except in four countries: India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Over the last twenty-four years, Rotary International in partnership with the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF has achieved remarkable results reducing cases of polio worldwide from 350,000 cases in 125 countries to 2000 cases in the aforementioned nations. The key is to deliver oral vaccines to the population most at risk of catching the deadly paralyzing disease: children under five.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $100 million in 2007 and $255 million in 2009 to help carry out Rotary International’s effort. In India, CityStream’s LeGate documents Rotary’s efforts and interviews Seattle Rotarians about why they return year after year to seek out children who have not been vaccinated. She explains that poor sanitation, rampant malnutrition and the presence of other virulent disease contribute to South Asia’s relatively high rate of infection. And she brings back footage of the children who are being saved by this program and those that have already been stricken by polio.

WATCH THE STORY by following this link: http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3070923

This week’s CityStream, Thursday night at 7 p.m., SEATTLE CHANNEL, Cable 21 or watch it online at
www.seattlechannel.org .

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