PM Stephen Harper receives Polio award

 
Canada honoured as Prime Minister Stephen Harper receives the Rotary Foundation Polio Eradication Champion Award
October 20, 2014
For immediate release
October 18, 2014 (Toronto, Ontario)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today received the Rotary Foundation Polio Eradication Champion Award, for his longstanding support and continued leadership in efforts to eliminate polio around the world. The Prime Minister accepted the award at a ceremony hosted by the Canadian Rotary Foundation in Toronto.
The Polio Eradication Champion Award is the highest honour the Rotary Foundation presents to heads of state, health agency leaders and others who have made significant contributions to the global polio eradication effort. The Rotary Foundation is an international organization that helps fund humanitarian activities, from local service projects to global initiatives. It undertakes worldwide Rotary campaigns such as eradicating polio and promoting peace. Rotarians and friends of Rotary support the Foundation’s work through voluntary contributions.
The Government of Canada has been at the forefront of the fight against polio. Since 2006, Canada has disbursed significant funds to eradicate polio, namely through support to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), to which Canada is one of the top donors. At the Global Vaccine Summit in April 2013, Canada reconfirmed its commitment to polio eradication and pledged funds over six years to support the GPEI’s 2013-2018 Endgame Strategic Plan which sets out a roadmap to eradicate polio by 2018.
 

 “I am honoured to receive this prestigious award that recognizes the significant efforts and contributions that our Government continues to make towards eradicating polio. We will continue to work with our partners to help put an end to this devastating childhood disease which can be prevented with a simple vaccine.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper

 
Quick Facts
  • Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disease that mainly affects children under the age of five. It can cause irreversible paralysis and sometimes leads to death.
  • The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is a public-private partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization to eradicate polio worldwide. The GPEI also supports the delivery of vital routine health interventions, including immunizations, vitamin A and zinc supplements, and the distribution of antimalarial bed nets. Canada’s contributions to eradicate polio are now part of its commitment to promote maternal, newborn and child health, with its funding coming from the 2010-2015 Muskoka Initiative and Canada’s Forward Strategy Saving Every Woman Every Child (2015-2020).
  • In receiving the Rotary Foundation’s Polio Eradication Champion Award, Prime Minister Harper joins a roster of distinguished leaders, including the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
  • Since 1988, Canada and its partners have supported the immunization of hundreds of millions of children, which has led to the eradication of the polio virus from almost every country on earth. Canada is committed to supporting the GPEI to realize its goal of a world free from polio by 2018.