Posted by Sean Paddy on Dec 01, 2017
400 million people in the world can’t afford or don’t have access to basic health care resulting in misery, pain, and poverty. Which is why Rotary members are devoted to fighting and preventing diseases. From setting up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in under-served communities to designing and building infrastructure allowing doctors, patients, and governments to work together, Rotary members take on efforts both large and small.
Disease results in misery, pain, and poverty for millions of people worldwide. That’s why treating and preventing disease is so important to us. We lead efforts both large and small. We set up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities struggling with outbreaks and health care access. We design and build infrastructure that allows doctors, patients, and governments to work together.
Our members combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and polio. Prevention is important, which is why we also focus on health education and bringing people routine hearing, vision, and dental care.
Disease prevention and treatment takes on many forms, from supporting studies to helping immunize people to improving drinking water and the sanitation infrastructure. The world relies on Rotary to tackle these global challenges, and to set an example for others to follow.
HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN
Disease does not prevent itself. We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases. Rotary members have hundreds of health projects underway around the world at any given time.
Disease does not prevent itself. We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases. Rotary members have hundreds of health projects underway around the world at any given time.
OUR IMPACT ON DISEASE
The Rotary Foundation is changing the world by providing grants for projects and activities around the globe and in your own backyard.
The Rotary Foundation is changing the world by providing grants for projects and activities around the globe and in your own backyard.
Rotary makes amazing things happen, like:
- Providing clean water: Rotary has worked with partners to provide more than 80 percent of Ghana’s people with clean water to fight Guinea worm disease.
- Reducing HIV infection: In Liberia, Rotary members are helping women get tested for HIV early in their pregnancies. They used prenatal care to reduce new HIV infections in children by 95 percent over two years.
- Ending polio: Rotary members have played a key role in bringing the world to the brink of polio eradication. Their efforts have not only ended polio in 122 countries but also created a system for tackling myriad other health priorities, such as Ebola.
Rotary members are devoted to fighting and preventing diseases. From setting up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities to designing and building infrastructure allowing doctors, patients, and governments to work together, Rotary members take on efforts both large and small.
This December, Rotary Disease Treatment and Prevention Month, gain inspiration to take action to fight and prevent disease in your community by:
- Supporting health education programs that explain how diseases are spread, and promoting ways to reduce the risk of transmission;
- Partnering with medical institutions or ministries of health to help immunize people against infectious diseases;
- Supporting continued education and training for health workers through scholarships, stipends, and public recognition;
- Improving and expanding access to affordable health care in under-served areas.
Enhance your existing disease prevention and treatment projects
Expand your disease prevention and treatment project with guidance from a Rotarian Action Group! 16 of 26 Rotarian Action Groups (RAGs), which consult on club and district-led humanitarian efforts, specialize in a concentration within disease prevention and treatment. Contact a RAG for help starting or expanding a project in your community, or for opportunities to support related international efforts. Here are eight of the many RAGs that address health issues:
- Alzheimer's/Dementia RAG: They provide information and support to Rotarians on dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Members use their knowledge, experience and leadership to fight Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
- RAG for Blindness Prevention: This RAG helps prevent blindness and promotes eye health and vision worldwide.
- RAG of Dental Volunteers: These volunteers provide humanitarian dental service throughout the world.
- RAG for Diabetes: This RAG provides has commitment to education, identification, and treatment of diabetes. They are especially concerned about diabetes among children in developing countries. They work with the International Diabetes Federation.
- Rotarians for Hearing RAG: These Rotarians promote hearing help for children and adults with hearing loss.
- RAG on Mental Health Initiatives: The mission of RAGMHI is to act as a worldwide resource for Rotarians in the field of mental health and mental illness to promote, protect, restore, and to help re-build the lost human capital to make a happier and healthier world.
- RAG for Multiple Sclerosis Awareness: These Rotarians work to make people aware of MS and improve the lives of People with MS.
- Polio Survivors and Associates RAG: These Rotarians are dedicated to permanently ending polio. They focus on improving the health and well-being of polio survivors.
Do you have a passion in one of these areas? Can you contribute you knowledge, skills and expertise to one of these RAGs? Check it out today. This is another way in which we can serve as Rotarians in the focused area of Disease Prevention and Treatment.
