END POLIO NOW!!!

END POLIO NOW!!!

The "charity arm" of Rotary International, the Rotary Foundation, has funded for several years a campaign to eradicate Poliomyelitis in the world.

The World Health organization provides the medical knowhow, Foundation provides the money.

 A grand ideal, a massive task and yes it seems to have "gone on forever". Why forever?

 There is a very logical explanation. To completely eradicate Polio in the world, the virus which lives in the air must be denied the opportunity to find an unvaccinated host (a small child) for a number of years and only then the virus will die, this takes a long time. So in a "nut shell" every new generation of children must be protected until the virus is no more. "Takes forever, not exactly forever".

Rotarian Richard Candler has a story connected with Polio and Rotary involvement. He says that he took a flight to Manchester and the plain speaking lady in the seat next asks what my Rotary badge was. I explained and her response was a "club for rich men who have control of the community". I could have resorted to the music head phone to exclude her, but explained how this group of controlling rich men had raised the money to try to eradicate polio in the world. She stopped talking, thought for a moment, asked for more details of how and when. She apologised and bought me a glass of Scotch whiskey, "perhaps you are not all bad".   

Rotary's first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines started in 1979.

In 1988 Polio was endemic in 125 countries - today the disease remains endemic in three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- although other countries remain at risk for imported cases.

Nigeria is paving the way for a Polio free Africa and in fact it was their Anti-Polio strategy that helped them in the fight against Ebola.

For more information on how to help END POLIO NOW please visit http://www.endpolio.org/

And sign the petition to urge the World leaders to provide the extra funding needed to end Polio forever.

For more information on Rotary visit http://www.wickfordrotary.org.uk where you can learn how you can become involved.