Rotary International has assigned a theme to each month in the Rotary year. We just completed Rotary Foundation Month in November.  In December, Rotary focuses on Disease Prevention and Treatment.  

Disease results in misery, pain and poverty for millions of people worldwide. That’s why treating and preventing disease is such an important part of Rotary’s mission. Rotarians combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and, of course, polio. And while prevention is important, Rotarians carry out many projects emphasizing health education and delivering routine hearing, vision and dental care.

With the support of The Rotary Foundation, Rotarians have achieved amazing results in disease treatment and prevention such as:

  • Providing clean water: Rotary has worked with partners to provide more than 80 percent of Ghana’s people with clean water to fight Guinea worm disease.
  • Reducing HIV infection: Rotary members are helping women in Liberia get tested for HIV early in their pregnancies. Through prenatal care, new HIV infections in children were reduced by 95 percent over two years.
  • Ending polio: In Rotary’s signature project, members around the globe have played a key role in bringing the world to the brink of polio eradication. Those efforts have not only ended polio in 122 countries but also created a system for tackling myriad other health priorities, such as Ebola.

Obviously, disease does not prevent itself. Your gifts to The Rotary Foundation support hundreds of health projects underway around the world at any given time. In this special time of year when we celebrate the giving and receiving of gifts, I hope you will join me in making a special contribution to The Rotary Foundation to support educating and equipping communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases.

Yours in Rotary,

Burt