After Rotary International made international peace and understanding part of their core mission in 1921 they developed ways to take action to deliver world peace. Their efforts led them to create 5 areas of focus which would help to create stable communities which would be positioned to exist in a peaceful state. One of those areas of focus was maternal and child health.
So why a focus on maternal and child health? According to Robert Zinser, the founder of the Rotary Action Group for Population and Development, “If mothers are empowered and healthy, so are their families, leading to an alleviation of hunger and poverty.” Working to assure families are healthy allows them to seek education and economic opportunities. Health is the foundation of a strong, viable community, and empowered mothers are the core of that community strength.
According to Rotary statistics, in 2020 more than 5 million children under the age of 5 died due to preventable and treatable causes. Half of them died as newborns, in the first 28 days of life. Rotary says the leading causes of death in children under 5 can be treated or prevented with affordable interventions in health and sanitation.
So how is Rotary International seeking to improve health for mothers and children? The Polio eradication project has been ongoing since 1987, when it was approved by the Rotary Board. At that time, 350,000 people per year contracted polio, which was a disease that mostly affected children. Celebrities affected by polio as children include Frida Kahlo, Neil Young, Alan Alda, Mia Farrow and many others. If a person survives the initial infection, the effects haunt them for the rest of their life, resurfacing and growing worse as they age. Rotary, working with the World Health Organization and others has reduced the scope of the polio virus to a small area in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Total eradication of the disease is (hopefully) imminent.
Experts say if the fight against polio is stopped, it would only be 10 years before the disease reached its former impact.
One of the biggest programs to help deliver healthy communities is through Rotary Clean Water Initiatives. Clean water is the key to health in many communities, so Rotary Clubs in different countries partner with each other to help deliver clean water projects. Some of those projects include drilling wells so communities can have access to a safe source of water, other projects are based on the harvesting of clean rainwater to be used as a source of potable water. The projects are all designed and developed to be sustainable, to engage the entire community and to become a long term solution so the community can have a strong health foundation.
With the exception of the Polio project, all of the projects that are delivered by Rotary are based on the work of local, community based clubs. Major projects, which are funded through the Rotary Foundation, involve two clubs, one of which is in the affected country. If you have a project that you feel could change a life, a community, or the world; talk to your local Rotary Club.