Rotary International District 2750 Gov. Katsuhiko Tatsuno of the Rotary Club of Tokyo West, who was one of yesterday’s guests at the Saipan Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt, said Rotary International has already received a total of $355 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the past years.
“Eradication of polio…is the best example of Rotary’s long-term projects and I am very proud that we will try to achieve this,” Tatsuno said.
He said the club’s motto of “Service Above Self” will change the world.
“During a conference in Montreal last June, I learned that only four countries still have polio — Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria,” Tatsuno said.
For the first time, however, not a single child has been paralyzed by polio in India for the past six months, he added. The polio cases in Nigeria also dropped by 99 percent in the past 12 months, he said.
With Tatsuno yesterday were Joe Rios, Pacific Basic Group assistant governor, and Hideyuki Suzuki, chairman for the Strategic Planning Committee and vice secretary for the Pacific Basin Group District.
Suzuki said the Rotary Clubs in the Pacific Basic Group are working very actively in pursuing various projects to make the people’s lives better.
