Monday the 24th of October is International Polio Day and our volunteers will be collecting donations and selling crocus lapel badges at Tesco, Mablethorpe between 9am and 5pm. All monies raised will go towards Polio eradication.
The eradication of Polio has been Rotary’s biggest project since 1998 and with just a handful of cases remaining each year, we are incredibly close to an almost unimaginable achievement.
Polio Facts
- Polio is a highly infectious disease, that spreads from person to person, commonly through contaminated water. It mainly affects children under the age of 5 and can leave some permanently paralysed.
- There is no cure for Polio, but it is preventable with a vaccine.
- Only 2 countries remain endemic, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- Until Polio is totally eradicated through vaccination, every child remains at risk.
- When the Polio vaccination programme started in 1988, there were more than 350,000 children were paralysed by Polio every year. Today, through vaccination, that has been reduced by 99.9%.
- More than 400 million children worldwide are vaccinated against Polio every year.
- Through the vaccination programme, 19 million people have been saved from paralysis and 1.5 million lives have been saved.
- In the past 10 years alone, 10 billion children have been immunized. If that had not happened, more than 6.5million children would have been paralysed during the same period.
- Polio may become only the second human disease to be eradicated (Smallpox being the first)
- Purple is the colour for Polio eradication, and the purple crocus is the flower used to promote polio eradication. Purple is used because children are given a purple marker to show they have been vaccinated. Today, on World Polio day, many people will wear purple and buildings will be illuminated in purple to show support for this great initiative.
- Rotary was the first organisation in the world to plan for Polio eradication. Today, the world’s largest health organisations and virtually every country worldwide is committed to having a Polio free world.
