Our meeting on 24 October fell on World Polio Day 2017 and a portion of meal charges for that evening were donated to the End Polio Now campaign.
 
Rotary has partnered with the World Health Organisation and the US Centres for Disease Control to eliminate polio in the World. The campaign has been a major public health success, with now only a handful of cases being reported in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
 
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed to match Rotary contributions in a ratio of 2 to 1, up to a maximum of US$50 million for each of the next three years. This match will result in new contributions of $450 million to go along with $1.2 billion pledged by 27 countries, organisations, companies and individuals in June this year.
 
Since 1985, Rotary has raised more than $1.7 billion for the campaign.
 
At our meeting, we also welcomed Anant Bhatnagar as a new member of the Club. Anant was joined by his partner, Anne Whittington.