Rotary Club of Shelburne honours ‘World Polio Day’

October 30, 2015 · 0 Comments

Members and friends of the Rotary Club of Shelburne came together to recognize World Polio Day (October 23), part of Rotary’s 30-year mission to eradicate the crippling childhood disease polio (see attached photo).
The Rotary Club of Shelburne donates part of the money raised from the Canadian Open Old Time Fiddle Championship to the polio fight, as well as presenting speakers at our meetings with a certificate that recognizes that 20 children have been vaccinated against polio in their name, as a speaker gift.
Polio cases have plummeted by 99.9 percent since 1985, when the disease infected more than 350,000 children in 125 countries each year. Today, only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain polio-endemic, and in 2014, there were fewer than 360 polio cases in the world. Nigeria was removed from the endemic list in September, 2015. Rotary and its partners have reached more than 2.5 billion children with the oral polio vaccine, preventing more than five million cases of paralysis and hundreds of thousands of pediatric deaths. The lessons learned from fighting polio, and the health infrastructure created to do so, pave the way for other lifesaving health interventions. For example, Nigeria brought its 2014 Ebola outbreak to a swift end using the existing infrastructure created to fight polio.
Rotary’s chief responsibilities in the initiative are fundraising and advocacy, a role of increasing importance as the end game draws near. Rotary’s website – www.endpolionow.org – educates, activates and inspires visitors to actively support the polio eradication effort.
Since 1985, Rotary has contributed more than $1.4 billion and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries. Although Canada was certified polio-free in 1994, polio vaccine is still part of the routine free childhood immunization package in all provinces and territories.
A highly infectious disease, polio causes paralysis and is sometimes fatal. As there is no cure, the best protection is prevention. For as little as US 60 cents worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. After an international investment of more than US $8 billion, and the successful engagement of over 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, polio could be the first human disease of the 21st century to be eradicated.
On October 23 www.endpolionow.org live streamed Rotary’s third annual World Polio Day event, co-hosted with UNICEF. The event addressed questions such as: How close are we to a polio-free world? and What’s needed to finish the job? The live event was hosted by Jeffrey Kluger, science editor for Time, and featured celebrity ambassadors, polio survivors, and technical experts. Watch the event any time at www.endpolionow.org
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work impacts lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. For more information, visit www.rotary.org
If you are interested in joining the Rotary Club of Shelburne, we would welcome you at one of our Thursday evening meetings starting at 6:15 p.m. at the Agricultural Hall (William St.) in Shelburne. Please contact Bill Waite at 519 925-8620 or fiddleshelburne@yahoo.ca for more information. You can find out more about the Club on the web at www.shopshelburne.com/RotaryClubofShelburne or www.shelburnefiddlecontest.com
For further information about the fight to end polio, visit www.endpolionow.org