END POLIO NOW

For more than 40 years Rotary International has been working to eradicate this paralysing and potentially deadly disease.  Polio cases have reduced by 99.9% since 1979.  In this time, Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect 3 billion children in 122 countries.  Unfortunately polio still remains in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

At our meeting on 23 October 2025 we dressed in purple and President Sue handed out pots of purple crocus to grow as a reminder of this important campaign.  They serve as a symbol of hope, when they flower in spring with purple being the colour of the paint the child dips their little finger in to show they’ve had the vaccination - “purple pinkie”.  Some decided to grow their pots indoors, others opted for leaving them in the garden.  As you can see from the photographs, the indoor ones are already in flower but those grown outside have still to bloom.

Bill Gates (Microsoft) has previously matched $1 to every $1 raised by Rotary International.  However, at the Rotary Convention in Calgary earlier this year he pledged to double his contribution to $2 for every $1 raised by Rotary.  This money provides vaccine delivery, polio eradication programs and emergency responses for outbreaks.  In fact London saw one of these when polio was detected in sewerage samples in February 2022.  We cannot and should not rest on our laurels.  Whilst polio is still in the world, we are still under threat of it returning.  It wouldn’t take much.

We had a close call in London in 2022, which shows we are not safe yet. This will only happen when polio is completely eradicated from the world.   Let’s make polio the same as smallpox – currently the only human disease to have been eradicated globally.