A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, killing more than 120 people and trapping an unknown number beneath rubble. Tremors were felt as far away as Rome, 100 km (65 miles) southwest of the quake's epicenter. International disaster relief agency and Rotary International project partner ShelterBox is sending a response team from its headquarters in the United Kingdom to the remote mountainous area of Italy where the destruction is most severe. The response team will arrive Friday, 26 August, to assess the area's needs. Luca Della Volta, president of ShelterBox Italia,...

Legendary singer and polio survivor Donovan Leitch, better known simply as Donovan, has joined Rotary in its fight to eradicate the paralyzing disease that afflicted him during much of his childhood. Donovan contracted polio at age three in Glasgow, Scotland. The disease weakened his right leg and left it thinner and shorter than the other. Confined to his bed for much of his childhood, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer said his father would read him poetry. In a recent interview with the Daily Express, Donovan said that listening to poetry piqued his interest in creative writing. “If I...

Rotary's fourth World Polio Day celebration, on 24 October, will highlight extraordinary progress in the eradication campaign and emphasize the work that remains before we wipe out the virus for good. With the number of new cases worldwide nearly halved from this time last year, we have the opportunity to rally our resources and see the last case of polio this year. Health officials and Rotary's celebrity polio ambassadors will head to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, for the event, the first to be held at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It will be streamed live and then will...

The way Rotary member Todd Jenkins puts it, he's the first generation in his family "to do everything": first to go to college, first to fly on a plane, first to visit another country, and the first to live across state lines. Jenkins, 28, grew up in a low-income neighborhood in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. His family worked hard just to make ends meet. So travel and college seemed out of reach. The eldest of ten children, Jenkins says his goal was to break out of the family status quo and set a positive example for his siblings. He credits his mother with helping him avoid falling into the...

The World Health Organization has confirmed two cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Nigeria, the first cases in the country since July 2014. After passing a year without a case of the wild poliovirus, Nigeria was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries in September 2015. These cases – from two local government areas of Borno state – occurred in July 2016. The Government of Nigeria – in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – will take immediate steps to respond quickly to the outbreak to prevent further spread of the disease. This response will include...