10/24: World Polio Day. 2017 to date only 12 newly diagnosed cases world wide: 7 in Afghanistan, 5 in Pakistan. In 2016 there were 37 for the year (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria). All places where volunteer efforts to immunize are challenged by war, topography and moving populations. In 1954, I was fortunate to be one of the over 1.8 million children in the testing of the Salk Polio Vaccine. We lined up in the elementary school auditorium and were rewarded with shots (I remember the needles as being huge) and lollipops. Luckily, I received the actual vaccine in the test. Due to the efforts of 1.2 million Rotarians, Rotary International, countless volunteers worldwide and funders such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we are just the tiniest distance away from total eradication of this crippling disease.