This certification came four years after Nigeria – the last polio-endemic country in Africa – recorded its final case of wild polio.

• This milestone will be an incredible public health achievement for Rotary members, the African region, millions of health workers, and our Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners, and a huge step forward on the road to global polio eradication.

• Rotary members have played an invaluable role in the effort to rid the African region of wild polio. We should be proud of all the hard work that we’ve done to eliminate the wild poliovirus in nearly every country in the world.

• There are Rotary clubs in all 47 countries in the African region, and the region is home to almost 32,000 Rotary members in nearly 1400 Rotary clubs.

• Rotary and its members have contributed nearly US$890 million to eliminate polio in the African region.

• To overcome the remaining hurdles to eradication, it is critical that Rotary members remain committed to polio eradication and continue raising $50 million a year so we can keep children protected in Africa and eliminate the wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan.