"Certainly one of the reasons for my continued activity is the encouragement I received by the recognition of the World of Children Award."

William T. Sergeant is dedicated to saving children through the eradication of poliomyelitis, a disease that causes paralysis, disabling children for life. A Rotarian since 1947, Sergeant works more than full-time as an unpaid volunteer toward Rotary International's highest goal-the eradication of polio in the world by the year 2005. Since making history as World of Children's first award recipient, Sergeant continues to serve as the head of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee and to speak about the global eradication effort worldwide. In addition to his efforts to educate about the effects of polio, Sergeant has worked tirelessly administering the polio vaccination to children. He travels more than 100 times a year to Europe, Asia, Africa, and throughout the United States to help vaccinate children. In the year 2001, 575 million children-almost one-tenth of the world's population-received the polio vaccine. Reported polio cases for that year were down by more than 99 percent since 1988, and now national immunization days can accommodate as many as 150 million children under the age of 5 in a single day. More than 500,000 cases of polio are now prevented each year by the effort of the Global Eradication Initiative. When Sergeant received the World of Children Award, it was not his intention to continue his work past the year 2002. Because of the encouragement he received as an Honoree, he has accepted reappointment and will continue until 2005. For more information, please visit

www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus.

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