World Polio Day is on the 24th of October and the Rotary community is getting ready to amplify its message about eradicating polio to protect the world’s children from this devastating disease.

 

Rotary has made tremendous progress. However we still need to intensify our fight to make polio the second human disease ever to be eradicated. Last year, the World Health Organization’s African region was certified free of wild poliovirus, showing that eradication is possible even in very difficult circumstances. The wild poliovirus remains endemic in just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, the good news is that Rotary is working with the Taliban to continue its inoculation programme.

 

Rotary has been working for 35 years to eradicate polio. The first children to be vaccinated were in the Philippines and since that time Rotary has reduced cases by 99.9%.

 

Rotary has donated $2.1 billion dollars in the 35 years and provided countless volunteer hours to protect 3 billion children in 122 countries. It costs $3 on average to protect a child against polio and we are committed to raise $50 million a year. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have joined with Rotary to eliminate polio and provide a 2 for 1 matching grant. Making our efforts even more significant.

 

Our club is committed to raising funds through selling “bacon butties” at the train station on Thursday 11th November and promoting the “Ride the Train event” on Sunday 14th. This is of course Covid permitting.

 

More information about both those events will be forthcoming and we thank you in advance for your support

 

David Shackleton