Paul Dickinson, District 1070 Foundation Chair

Mon, Feb 23rd 2026 at 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Paul Dickinson, District 1070 Foundation Chair will talk about the difficulties and successes of the polio campaign and bring us up to date with the current state of the campaign.

Poliomyelitis, also known as infantile paralysis, is an insidious viral infection that particularly affects children and causes death or permanent paralysis. It is spread by water that is contaminated by the faeces of those that carry the virus. It was world wide and endemic.

Between 1948 and 1955 roughly 56000 children in Britain alone were condemned to a life in wheelchairs or with callipers. And they were the lucky ones - they were the survivors!

In 1985 Rotary made a promise to find the money to eradicate polio - for ever - everywhere! together with UNICEF and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation we have now eradicated 99.9% of the world’s wild polio virus. But we have to kill all of it if we really to prevent is making a deathly comeback. The fight goes on.