The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is the recipient of the 2002 Gates Award for Global Health. The award, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recognises Rotary's leadership and impact in public health, most notably the organisation's top priority of eradicating polio by 2005.
Rotary has contributed over $462 million toward polio eradication, and over a million Rotary members have volunteered their time and personal resources to help immunise more than two billion children in 122 countries.
The award not only recognises Rotary's work to end polio, but also the mobilisation of over a million Rotary members to work in areas of health and sustainable development. Hundreds of ongoing community service projects are improving the health and welfare of those in need throughout the world. Examples of Rotary programmes include: a revolving loan programme for women in Uganda to break the link between AIDS and chronic poverty; a project in the Philippines to provide free tuberculosis screening and treatment for children of pre-school or elementary age; and water projects that provide clean water in El Salvador.
"The Rotary Foundation is truly deserving of recognition for its exemplary achievements in the field of global health," Bill Gates, Sr, co-chair and CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said. "I've seen Rotary volunteers in action and they do tremendous work.
"We should never take for granted the generosity and hard work of people in communities everywhere who volunteer their time and resources to make a difference in the lives of children and families in both developing and developed nations."
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established the Gates Award for Global Health worth $1 million to recognise an organisation that has made a major, lasting contribution to global health. The Global Health Council administers the award process.
In selecting this year's recipient, the Council's board of directors considered the following criteria: extraordinary contributions toward progress in the knowledge and practice of health in low-income societies, demonstrated leadership, an established record of achievement, innovation in programme design, organisational capacity, collaboration with others, evidence that contributions have been adopted across geographic and organisational boundaries, and substantial impact on health around the world.
"We thank the Gates Foundation for recognising the important role that Rotary plays in the effort to improve the health of men, women and children worldwide," Luis Vicente Giay, chairman of The Rotary Foundation, said. "Rotary receives this award with great humility, but we are so proud that this honour recognises the critical role civil society plays in the fight to give people in developing nations access to effective immunisations and health care.
"We hope the award will help raise awareness of the crucial need to eradicate polio now - when we have the opportunity."
The award was presented in Washington, DC, on May 30 at a dinner during the Global Health Council's 29th annual international conference, 'Global Health in Times of Crisis'. Bill Gates, Sr will present the award on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Last year, the first-ever Gates award was presented to the Centre for Health and Population Research. Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the centre focuses on addressing health conditions prevalent in developing countries and associated with poverty.
The centre pioneered the discovery and development of oral re-hydration solution (ORS), which today saves the lives of two-and-a-half-million children each year from diarrhoea, the sickness that used to be the leading infectious killer in the world.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is dedicated to improving people's lives by sharing advances in health and learning with the global community. Led by Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates, Sr, and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an asset base of $23 billion.
The Global Health Council is the world's largest membership alliance dedicated to advancing policies and programmes that improve health around the world. Founded in 1971, the council promotes better health by assisting all who work for improvement and equity in global health to secure the information and resources they need to work effectively.
Rotary is an organisation of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world.
There are approximately 1.2 million Rotary club members of more than 30,000 Rotary clubs in 163 countries. Rotary has recently established the Rotary Centres for International Studies at prestigious universities throughout the world to advance knowledge on issues of peace and conflict resolution among the next generation of community and world leaders.