World Polio Day 2014 Event and Concert Featured Tessanne Chin, Ziggy Marley, and Guest Speakers in Chicago

Rotary International's World Polio Day 2014 Benefit Concert
Tessanne Chin performed "Always Tomorrow" in honor of the celebration October 24, 2014 Chicago, Illinois
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On October 24, Rotary International organization celebrated World Polio Day with a livestream event featuring Tessanne Chin, 2013 winner of the TV show “The Voice;” Ziggy Marley, reggae star; Minda Dentler, polio survivor and Ironman competitor; and a host of speakers including John Hewko, the Rotary International General Secretary, and Dr. James Alexander, senior medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control.

Polio is on the verge of eradication, with cases in only Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Polio is a highly preventable disease that Rotary has been working to eradicate since 1988 to eradicate polio, and Rotary is celebrating the end of their mission. 

Ms. Chin spoke to BreakingVoices.com about her involvement with educating people about polio.
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Audience at Rotary's World Polio Day Event at 1st Ward in Chicago
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The livestream event called “End Polio Now: Make History Today" will take place 6:30 p.m. (CT) on October 24 at 1st Ward venue in Wicker Park Chicago.

With streaming from Chicago hosted by TIME magazine science and technology editor Jeffrey Kluger, highlights of the event include:

• Tessanne Chin, 2013 winner of the TV show “The Voice,” will perform a song during the program, followed by a benefit concert after the event
• Reggae star Ziggy Marley will welcome participants to the event and perform via video
• Minda Dentler, polio survivor and Ironman competitor, will share her personal story
• Remarks via video by Olivier Charmeil, chief executive officer of Sanofi Pasteur
• Bernadette Hendrickx, Senior Medical and Scientific advisor to the CEO of Sanofi Pasteur, will deliver remarks live
• Addresses by Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko, Rotary Foundation Vice-Chair Michael McGovern, and Dr. James Alexander, senior medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Tom Frieden, Director Centers for Disease Control
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Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spoke via video to the audience about the important role Rotary has played in eradication of polio.

Polio survivor Mindy Dentler
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In celebration of World Polio Day, Rotary announced earlier this week that it will give $44 million in grants to stop the disease in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Rotary’s new funding commitment will target the countries still at risk of contracting this incurable disease.

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About $18.5 million will go to the three remaining polio-endemic countries: Afghanistan ($7.4 million), Nigeria ($8.4 million), and Pakistan ($2.7 million). An endemic country is one where the wild poliovirus has never been stopped.

Dr. James Alexander, senior medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Another $9.5 million is marked for previously polio-free countries currently reporting cases “imported” from the endemic countries: Cameroon ($3.5 million), Ethiopia ($2 million), and Somalia ($4 million).

$10.4 million will go to polio-free countries that remain at risk of reinfection: Democratic Republic of Congo ($1.5 million), India ($4.9 million), Niger ($1 million), South Sudan ($2 million), and Sudan ($1 million).

The remaining $6.3 million will go toward polio eradication research.

Rotary provides grant funding to polio eradication initiative partners UNICEF and the World Health Organization, which work with the governments and Rotary club members of polio-affected countries to plan and carry out immunization activities. Mass immunizations of children via the oral polio vaccine must continue until global eradication is achieved.

To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion to fight polio. Through 2018, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match two-to-one every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication (up to $35 million a year). As of 2013, there were only 416 confirmed polio cases in the world, down from about 350,000 cases a year when the initiative launched in 1988.

During the World Polio Day concert, Ephraim Martin from the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) surprised Tessanne Chin with the her IRAWMA award "Best Female Vocalist Award."

Ephraim Martin from the International Reggae and World Music Awards ( IRAWMA) presents Tessane Chin with IRAWMA award
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Ephraim Martin from the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) present Tessane Chin with "Best Female Vocalist Award
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ABOUT ROTARY

Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. In 1988, Rotary was joined by the WHO, UNICEF, and the CDC to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Visit rotary.org and endpolio.org for more about Rotary and its efforts to eradicate polio. Video and still images will be available on the Rotary Media Center.

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Watch the Rotary World Polio event Livestream Event video below.

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