Pop star Tessanne Chin and TIME Magazine will join Rotary to put polio eradication on center stage Oct. 24

Pop star Tessanne Chin and TIME Magazine will join Rotary to put polio eradication on center stage Oct. 24

Rotary's 'End Polio Now: Make History Today' event willhighlight progress in the global effort to end polio

For the second year, Rotary will mark World Polio Day with a livestream event featuring a global status update on the fight to end polio; the challenges that remain; and how private citizens, corporations, and non-profits can join in the historic final push to end this paralyzing disease. The event will feature an array of guest speakers and performers streamed live from Chicago, and will be hosted by TIME magazine science and technology editor Jeffrey Kluger.


WHO: Tessanne Chin, 2013 winner of the TV show "The
Voice," will perform a song during the program,
followed by a benefit concert after the event


Reggae star Ziggy Marley will welcome
participants to the event and perform via video


Minda Dentler, polio survivor and Ironman
competitor, will share her story


Remarks via video by Olivier Charmeil, chief
executive officer of Sanofi Pasteur, the largest
manufacturer of polio vaccine and World Polio
Day event co-sponsor. Bernadette Hendrickx,
Senior Medical and Scientific advisor to the CEO
of Sanofi Pasteur, will deliver remarks live.



Addresses by Rotary International General
Secretary John Hewko, Rotary Foundation Vice-
Chair Michael McGovern, and Dr. James
Alexander, senior medical epidemiologist at the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).



WHERE: First Ward Events, 2033 W. North Ave., Chicago


WHEN: Friday, Oct. 24, 2014

5:30 p.m. - Reception

6:30 p.m. - Program/Livestream

8:30 p.m. - Concert
LIVESTREAM: Rotary's 'End Polio Now: Make History Today' event will also be streamed live online at 6:30 pm CT at: www.endpolio.org or http://ow.ly/A7OKy to a global audience.

CONTACT: Vivian Fiore, 847-866-3234, Vivian.fiore@rotary.org

BACKGROUND: In 1988, Rotary was joined by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion to fight polio. Through 2018, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match two-to-one every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication (up to $35 million a year). As of 2013, there were only 416 confirmed polio cases in the world, down from about 350,000 a year when the initiative launched in 1988. Visit endpolio.org for more about Rotary's efforts to eradicate polio. Video and still images will be available on the Rotary Media Center.

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Oct. 14, 2014/

SOURCE Rotary International

Rotary International

Web Site: http://www.rotary.org


-------
Profile: intent