Today marks an important milestone in Rotary’s campaign to achieve a polio-free world, as we mark World Polio Day. With just 27 cases so far this year in only three countries, the prospect of eradicating this crippling disease is closer than ever.
Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland is partnering with TV presenter Konnie Huq to help in the fight to rid the world of the disease this World Polio Day. She will be joining Rotary at two key events to raise awareness of polio eradication at the London Press Club on 24th October and the Science Museum in London on 26th October.
This year’s World Polio Day comes at an important time in the fight to eradicate polio. Recent new cases of polio in Nigeria which had gone two years without a reported case is a reminder to us all that we still have much to do to reach our goal of a polio free world.
To finish the job Rotary started in 1985 there is much still to be done in many countries around the world including continuing to immunise every single child under five years of age in almost 60 countries.
Konnie, who is an Ambassador for Rotary’s Purple4Polio campaign, has previously travelled to India to take part in administering immunisations against the crippling disease and has seen first-hand its devastating consequences.
This evening, she will join President of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, Eve Conway for a Q&A event at the London Press Club at the Corinthia Hotel in Whitehall, where they will both be sharing their personal experiences of the polio immunisation work being done.
Also on the panel will be Gautam Lewis, a polio survivor who was taken in by Mother Teresa when he was just three years old, who will be giving an insight into his personal experience of polio and living with its consequences.
On 26th October, Konnie will be joined by Broadcaster and polio survivor Julia Roberts and a member of the Rotary International Polio Plus Committee Judith Diment at the prestigious Science Museum Lates ‘Contagion’ event. This panel will be talking about the challenges facing the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and all the work being done to ensure success from first hand experience on the ground in India and Pakistan.
In 1985, when Rotary International committed to eradicating the disease, polio paralysed more than 350,000 children per year in 125 countries – or about 1,000 children per day. Since that time, the number of polio cases has been reduced by 99.9%, with just 74 cases in the whole of 2015 and only 27 cases in just three countries in 2016 to date.
Rotary throughout the world has directly contributed more than $1.5 billion to ending polio through its End Polio Now campaign and over $7.1 billion indirectly through its advocacy work with governments, philanthropists and other donors. At the moment all funds raised by Rotary everywhere are tripled thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation so literally every single £1 raised becomes £3.
With eradication now closer than ever, Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland’s Purple4Polio campaign is designed to unite communities to engage in activities as part of the final push to eradicate polio for good.
Along with the national efforts, Rotary clubs across Great Britain and Ireland will also be holding a number of Purple-themed events, to further raise awareness by using the colour of the dye which is placed on the little finger of a child to identify those who have been immunised when literally millions of children are receiving their lifesaving polio vaccine in a single day.
The campaign also ties in with the 100 year anniversary of The Rotary Foundation, Rotary’s own and only charity, which has played a key role in making polio eradication become close to a reality, along with hundreds of other projects both in local communities within Great Britain and Ireland and overseas.
For up to date figures please visit the Global Polio Eradication Initiative website.
Published: Monday 24th October 2016
