by Russ Buck

Medical Supplies to Haiti

Rotarians Steve Laine, Ed Zucchi and Bobby Yanover are present for the hand over of 6 pallets of medical supplies to Food-For-The-Poor.  They were ......

3-H project shines the light of literacy in Brazil.

 

A Rotarian literacy initiative supported by a Rotary Foundation 3-H grant has helped thousands of Brazilian children learn to read and write.

A Rotary Foundation 3-H Grant that introduced the concentrated language encounter
(CLE) method to Brazil in 2001 continues to boost literacy rates among low-income families throughout the country.

With support from the Foundation, Brazilian host partners in districts 4520, 4560, and 4760 and international partners in districts 6900 (Georgia, USA) and 7080 (Ontario, Canada) developed a US$344,862 project that set up a CLE training center in Contagem, Minas Gerais.

Today, more than 1,900 teachers ....

 

After RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson talked about RI President-elect Dong Kurn Lee's new emphases, Lee and his wife, Young, wave to the crowd of district governors-elect.

The 2008-09 theme challenge to reduce the child mortality rate is a tall order, RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson told incoming district governors at the International Assembly yesterday, but by working within the framework of Rotary’s emphases set by RI President-elect Dong Kurn Lee, it's a goal worth achieving.

Guided by Lee's emphases of water, health and hunger, and literacy, Rotarians can help prevent needless deaths of children, Wilkinson said. “There is no question that ...

 Polio

Decades ago, polio outbreaks were a constant threat around the world. After the introduction of polio vaccines by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin and a steadfast immunization effort, these outbreaks became part of history in most of the world.

Yet many still live under the threat of polio, which is why Rotary and its global partners are committed to reaching every child with the vaccine and ending this disease worldwide.

Major gains have been made in the global fight against polio:

• In the 1980s, 1,000 children were infected by the disease every day in 125 countries. Today, polio cases have declined by 99 percent, with fewer than two thousand cases reported in 2006.
• Two billion children have been immunized, five million have been spared disability, and over 250,000 deaths from polio have been prevented.

Contribute to stopping polio

The biggest obstacles to eradicating polio are the underfunding of the global initiative and insufficient political commitment from the remaining polio-affected countries. Rotary International believes the primary source for additional funds can and should be governments of polio-free industrialized countries. Your contribution through Rotary will help ensure that we keep doing our part to get the job done.