Tuesday, 24th October 2017 - World Polio Day

The Rotary club of Derby marked historic progress toward a polio-free world, while urging community support to end this paralyzing disease.

Enormous thanks to Derby City Council, DerbyRoyalHospital, The Quad and DerbyUniversity for ‘Turning the City Purple’.

Also to BBC Radio Derby and the Derby Telegraph for the fantastic coverage on World Polio Day and to everyone who visited our stands at the hospital, the university and The Quad and bought a purple crocus lapel badge to support us in making sure ALL children are safe from this devastating virus.

Thanks also to the 19 schools across Derby and to Derby University for planting a total of 15,000 crocus corms so that in the spring there will be fantastic displays to remind pupils, students, parents and visitors just how important, for the future of our children, it is to eradicate this disease.

Rotary members in Derby were among millions reaching out on World Polio Day to raise awareness, funds and support to end polio – a vaccine preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.

Since Rotary in partnership with the World Health Organisation launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative nearly 30 years ago, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year in 125 countries to just 37 cases in 2016. Over the years Rotary funding has exceeded US$ 1.7billion with the UK having contributed more than US$37million of this and in addition to raising funds, many of our members from the UK and across the world have also helped with immunization programmes to vaccinate many millions of children.

We are now in the position in 2017 where we have almost fully eradicated polio – it remains endemic in only 3 countries but, unless we reach every child with the vaccine, no child anywhere is safe.

We have the support of many organisations, governments and individuals across the world including the UN, the British Government – who recently pledged £100 million to help immunize 45 million children and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who have been on board since 2009 and are committed to match 2:1, the Rotary commitment to raise a further US$ 50 million per year over the next three years.

Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to what are now polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. If we do not eradicate this virus, within 10 years we could see as many as 200,000 new cases each year, all over the world.

So often you hear people say that no one person can make a global difference, well we in Rotary have proved how wrong they are because without the vision, tenacity and sheer dogged determination of individual Rotary members across the world over three decades, we wouldn’t be on the cusp of seeing the total eradication of this crippling, devastating disease.