Rotary clubs spearhead polio battle
Six Shropshire Rotary clubs have played their part in a worldwide campaign to eradicate polio by contributing £24,244 to the cause.
The clubs in Bridgnorth, Ironbridge, Newport, Telford Centre, Wellington and The Wrekin are part of Rotary District 1210.
Worldwide, Rotary clubs have contributed more than 2.1 billion dollars to polio eradication since launching a campaign in 1985 and the organisation is committed to raising 50 million dollars each year for polio eradication activities.
Since the start of the campaign 35 years ago the number of cases is 99.9 per cent down, leaving total success tantalisingly close, although there remain countries where the disease persists, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Steve Evans from Ironbridge Rotary Club said: “Immunisations need strengthening in poorer countries of Africa and Asia, to keep the virus from returning. There is no cure for polio but there is a safe, effective vaccine. Rotary and partners, including the Gates Foundation, use it to immunise 2.5 billion children annually.
"When our grandparents were kids, it was not coronavirus that frightened them, but polio."
Polio is a paralysing, deadly disease. It commonly affects children under five. Its virus spreads person-to-person by contaminated water, attacking the nervous system. It was common in the UK into the 1950s.
