On Nov. 26, 2007, the Rotary International announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed $200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East and threatens children everywhere.

The Rotary Foundation received a $100 million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary matched dollar-for-dollar, over three years. The Evanston-based volunteer service organization planned to spend the initial $100 million within one year in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.