Twenty years ago, a grass-roots movement led by Rotary International, a voluntary organization with around 1.2 million members in more than 200 countries, decided to attack. As of the mid-1980’s, there were more than 300,000 cases of polio per year worldwide, despite the disease’s virtual elimination in the richest countries, where vaccination was routine.
20年前，国际扶轮社领导的草根运动决定行动。该社为志愿性组织，在200多个国家拥有大约120万会员。到二十世纪八十年代中叶，全球每年发生30多万起小儿麻痹症，但是这种疾病在最富裕国家已消除，这些国家已将接种疫苗列入常规程序。扶轮社接受挑战，向公共健康系统比较薄弱或根本不存在的地区的贫困人口提供疫苗。扶轮社人不仅希望减少小儿麻痹症病例数量，而且希望完全消除这种疾病。这一目标的实现如今指日可待了。