Helping Provide Clean Water - Water Aid £2,250
Without safe water or sanitation, people are trapped in a cycle of poverty and disease. Across the developing world, millions of women are wasting precious time collecting dirty water, children are dying from preventable diarrhoeal diseases, and communities have open sewers running through them.
748 million people in the world don't have access to safe water. This is roughly one in ten of the world's population. 2.5 billion people don't have access to adequate sanitation, one in three of the world's population. Over 500,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. That's over 1,400 children a day.
Our President Gillian took part in the London Marathon to rasie funds for Water Aid - with the help of Rotraians & friends she raised over 2,200.
Polio Eradication - £500
This crippling disease, mostly affecting children, at that time claimed almost 1,000 children EVERY DAY. Now thanks to the efforts of nearly 25 years, there are less than 500 cases per year and Polio remains endemic in only 3 countries in the world.
In 1955, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio, using deactivated virus. Albert Sabin followed in 1963 with an easy to administer oral active vaccine, which is also highly effective. Routine vaccination for polio is standard in many countries as a result. The last case of natural Polio infection in the UK was found in 1982, and more than ten years ago the continent of Europe was declared polio-free. But the fight goes on: one of the problems is that diseases don't recognise land borders, so that even though many countries are no longer endemic, cases do occur as the disease (and carriers) cross boundaries to neighbouring countries, particularly those surrounding Nigeria; the ease of air travel also creates risks as well.
Thus the campaign goes on despite the investment of more than $9 billion over twenty years (over $1 billion from Rotarians) we must completely finish the task otherwise the work of more than twenty-five years will have been wasted. A key feature of Rotary's commitment to the cause has been the input of individual Rotarians, giving of their time to travel to countries in need of assistance to help administer polio vaccine. Rotary's own charity, The Rotary Foundation has been consistently committed to the provision of funds. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have saw for themselves the importance of completing the task of eradicating polio. Over the last several years they've committed into our care more than $500 million of their money to help the cause,as well as direct donations of of more than $1.5 billion
Medecins Sans Frontieres £250
Mdecins Sans Frontires MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is an independent humanitarian medical aid organisation. We are committed to providing medical aid where it is most needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or gender and also to raising awareness of the plight of the people we help.
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