Breakfast Meeting at the Heronston Hotel

We were joined on Zoom by Rudi Tangerman from Rotary Hassfurt in Germay. Rudi is a M.D. who joined The World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1992 and worked on the WHO's vaccination and polio eradication programme, retiring in 2017.

Rudi gave us a reminder of the polio epidemic of the 1950s and the serios consequences it can have.

1985 saw the beginning of Rotary International Polio Plus, followe by the WHO resolution for global eradication of polio by 2000. In 1988 a wild poliovirus epidemic affected 125 coutries. The success of the eradication program is obvious as by 2023 the wild PV type 1 virus only remains endemic in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

Our guard must not be dropped however, as wild viris and vaccine-derived virus outbreaks continue to occur, notably in the African continent. Rotary International has never stopped mobilising.

 As in previous years, Rotary Bridgend lit local landmarks in purple in recognition of World Polio Day on 24th October, including St Carallo's Church in Coychurch.