Surviving Polio

Posted by James A Dunny 
 
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Actress and activist Mia Farrow, who was a speaker at the 2009 RI Convention, survived polio as a child. Rotary Images/Monika Lozinska-Lee
On 24 October, Rotarians around the world will help celebrate World Polio Day. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still strikes children mainly under the age of five in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Ending polio has been Rotary's top priority since 1988 with the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of polio cases has been reduced by more than 99 percent, five million cases of childhood paralysis and 250,000 deaths have been averted.


The following is a list of famous people who have had polio:
Alan Alda, actor
Arthur C. Clark, science fiction writer
Judy Collins, singer and songwriter
Francis Ford Coppola, director, producer, screenwriter
James Gordon Farrell, author
Mia Farrow, actress and activist
Frida Kahlo, painter
Dorothea Lange, photographer
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, Canadian prime minister
Joni Mitchell, singer and songwriter
Jack Nicklaus, professional golfer
Grace Padaca, politician in the Philippines
Itzhak Perlman, violinist
Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. president
David Sanborn, jazz saxophonist
Sir Walter Scott                 
Bapsi Sidhwa, author
Margarete Steiff, toymaker and founder of Steiff Company in Germany
Donald Sutherland, actor
Neil Young, singer and songwriter

To learn more about Polio and how you can help, click here.