Dedicated Rotary club members from across Great Britain and Ireland are flying to Delhi, India, to save millions of young lives from the curse of polio.
They’ll be taking part National Immunisation Day on February 7th 2010 – when as many children as possible will be protected from the crippling and paralysing disease, as part of the Thanks for Life – End Polio Now campaign.
25 years ago, Rotary made the pledge to eradicate polio worldwide. Since then, millions of children have been saved, thanks to the determination and devotion of Rotarians across the globe. Whether it is fundraising or delivering the vaccine, every member of Rotary is part of the final push to wipe out this crippling and sometimes fatal virus.
Seeing first-hand just how devastating this disease really brings home the importance of the End Polio Now campaign. This vaccine brings tremendous hope to families who might otherwise not receive any help at all. Rotary believes nobody should face a lifetime of being painfully and severely crippled.
Thousands of vaccination stations will be set up in cities across India, ready to welcome families and their children on the National Immunisation Day. Once immunised, the children’s little fingers are dyed purple to keep track of who has already been given the protective medication, now known as the Purple Pinkie. Volunteers will be linking with Rotarians from clubs all over Great Britain and Ireland and combining with health professionals to deliver the vaccine in Lucknow and Meerut.
Some families will find it difficult to travel to the vaccination stations, so Rotary volunteers will be going on the road to the remote villages, knocking on doors and immunising the children with the special polio vaccine as part of the service to the communities. These journeys will take the volunteers to the slums where families live in appalling conditions. Dirty water runs through the makeshift streets in open drains where children play and people live in piles of rubbish, increasing the risk of contracting polio.
While in India, the Rotary volunteers will also visit Shimla, Jaipur and Agra to see first-hand how important the work to eradicate the polio virus from the world is.
Polio is a crippling, and sometimes fatal, disease and a harrowing reality for children in parts of Africa, Asia and India. Rotary clubs work tirelessly throughout the year, raising funds to pay for the Rotary End Polio Now initiative. Since Rotary got involved with the eradication work in 1985, new cases have fallen from 1,000 a day to around 1,500 a year – saving over 5,000,000 children from being infected over this period.
To find out more about the Rotary Thanks for Life campaign click here .
