RIBI is reminding television viewers to check out Paralympic basketball player, Ade Adepitan’s documentary, Journey of my Lifetime, on Channel 4 tonight at 8.00 pm. The programme documents how Ade contracted polio as a young child in Nigeria and looks at what his quality of life could have been like if the family had not moved to England.
In 1985, Rotary International pledged to eradicate polio from the world and since then, along with other organisations, it has reduced the number of cases of polio by 99 percent. Where there were once 350,000 new cases of the disease every year, by the end of 2010 there were just over 1,000.
RIBI President, Nan McCreadie said: “Rotarians are currently working tirelessly towards wiping out the remaining one percent of polio cases, to make sure that no child can contract this paralysing disease. So we are delighted that Ade Adepitan is bringing the subject to the attention of a large audience in tonight’s programme. We hope that people watching will be inspired to get behind us and help us eradicate polio once and for all.”
Polio is the shortened name of poliomyelitis, a virus which leads to paralysis and disfigurement of the limbs. Last month, the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, announced that the UK will provide £10m for a vital polio vaccination campaign in Somalia and Kenya where there has been a recent outbreak of the disease.
