Walk for Polio Awareness

 

 

In 1985, when Rotary International launched Polio Plus, the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative, more than 125 countries were polio endemic and more than 350,000 a year were infected.  Today, in partnership with the World Health Organization and with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the number is down to two: Pakistan and Afghanistan, and so far this year there have only been 11 new cases of the wild polio virus reported to date, 6 in Afghanistan and 5 in Pakistan. But we must continue the fight.

 

On 24^th, the World will recognized “World Polio Day”, a day to celebrate how far we have come but also to remind ourselves that we cannot stop until the job is done.  No place on earth is safe until polio is eradicated everywhere.  There are examples of finding polio outside of Pakistan and Afghanistan.  In 2014, just before the World Cup of soccer in Brazil, the polio virus was identified in the sewage system of the Sao Paulo Airport.  Through genetic testing the virus was traced to Equatorial Guinea.

 

Rotary will continue the fight against polio until the two remaining countries are declared polio free and the children of the world will no longer know the scourge of this horrible disease.  Members of the BEL Club joined the other local Rotary Clubs to “Walk for polio Awareness”.  Friends, family and community members walked to celebrate how far we have come in our journey and to raise awareness that we will not stop until the job is done. We were "sent off" by Mayor Mary Smith of Selwyn and greeted by Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett when we reached City Hall.

 

Congratulations to Brian and Dorothy Menton, Trevor Copeland and Susan Davidson who walked the full 17 km.