24th October is World Polio Day; the day we celebrate Rotary's achievements in helping to eradicate polio from this world.
Since 1985, Rotary International has been part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; a public-private partnership led by national governments with five partners – the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.
Purple is the colour of a dye used to mark the fingers of children to show they have been vaccinated against polio, and so purple has become the colour associated with polio eradication.