The Rotary Club of LaSalle Centennial partners with several local pizzerias for Pizza for Polio to support Rotary International’s World Polio Day and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. On a designated night in October, each of the pizzerias generously donates a portion of their sales towards this special cause. All money raised locally is matched 2 for 1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partnership led by national governments with five partners – the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Its' goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.

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Polio remains endemic in two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries. When this disease is eradicated, it will be only the second disease to be wiped off the face of the earth, the first being small pox.