Posted by Sam McCurdy:
End Polio Day is 24th October.
The Rotary Foundation, as the charitable arm of Rotary, taps into a global network of Rotarian’s who invest their time, money, and expertise into our priorities, such as eradicating polio and promoting peace. Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
Polio is the world’s forgotten disease and something that should have been made history a long time ago. It is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunising every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralysing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, it is critical to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children per year.
Supporting the "Walk for us" to End Polio fund raiser is one way that we can continue the great work of our Rotary Foundation. Therefore, we are asking you to “Walk With Us” this October.
We are challenging you to walk, run or roll 10, 20, or 50km throughout the month and raise vital funds that will help eradicate and prepare us for a Polio-free world.
A polio-free world does not mean it’s over either. It requires updated vaccination policies, including the phased withdrawal of oral polio vaccines (OPV), appropriate containment of the poliovirus in facilities, the certification that polio has been eradicated, and planning for the transition of knowledge and infrastructure to serve other health goals.
In recent months we have all had to find new ways to stay fit and healthy. Rotary’s "Walk With Us" to End Polio Walk is a fitness challenge that you can complete from October 1st to 31st to reach your target in a COVID - safe way.
Last year we had 10 Club members participate in the event as the Berwick Boomers and Shakers team, and we raised $3,844, which placed us sixth in the fundraising team leader board. Join this year's team and let’s make it bigger and better! You can join the team at:
Be part of something special, “Walk With Us” this October for those that can’t. Be part of the end game strategy and raise funds to help make Polio history, so that no child ever again suffers paralytic poliomyelitis.
When you do so, you will be helping us to reach our fundraising goal of $50 million, so we can work to safely reach all children with the polio vaccine.
