Only a handful of newly-diagnosed polio cases have been reported worldwide, as the effort to stamp out the disease continues; and a fundraiser hosted by the Knoxville Rotary Club will address what’s being done to immunize children in the last remaining areas where the disease is active.

The annual End Polio Now dinner will be held Wednesday evening at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum; Rotary International has been one of the major players in the polio immunization effort, with volunteers going to Pakistan and Afghanistan — the last two countries where polio is still active — to help administer the vaccine.

There has been resistance in some areas over the years; conspiracy theories about the nature of the immunizations abounded in Nigeria, and distrust of Westerners in general and Americans in particular led many parents and local authorities in each of these countries to oppose the vaccinations.

T. Waldmann-Williams is co-President of the Knoxville Rotary Club; she tells KNIA/KRLS News their guest for the evening has been on the ground, and can attest to how the distrust has lessened.

“There are people within those countries that are working hard, Rotarians, and we’re going to have one of those Rotarians…Peggy Geiger, who went on a National Immunization Day in Nigeria,” Waldmann-Williams says. ”But Pakistan and Afghanistan have both had some resistance, but their countries still want to be free of it.”

The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres, then dinner at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $30 each, with $15 going to End Polio Now…which will be matched two for one by the Gates Foundation. The event is open to the general public.