Vancouver couple makes big donation to help eradicate polio
Posted January 4, 2016 8:10 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Did any of your parents or grandparents ever battle a polio diagnosis?
A local couple has made a half-million-dollar donation to Rotary International‘s effort to eradicate the disease entirely.
The gift from the late Fred and Bette Cotton will be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Canadian government to make a $2.5 million donation for the campaign
“Fred and Bette were of that age that they remember polio… remember classmates disappearing. Everybody has an aunt or uncle — somebody in that age group that walks with a limp because of polio,” says Chris Offer with the Rotary Foundation.
He tells us he can even imagine the very last case of polio, which he says will be both a sad and happy occasion.
“Most likely, it’ll be a little girl under five in Pakistan who lives in poverty… I say a little girl because they’re less likely to get vaccinated. We won’t know for months after that [if it’s] the last case.”
The World Health Organization confirmed only 70 cases of polio last year, and the end of the disease could happen within the next couple years.
