MEMBERS of a North Ayrshire Rotary Club will join fellow Rotarians around the world next month to mark World Polio Day.
Hunterston Rotary will join club members across the globe in marking the annual event on October 24.
World Polio Day was created to recognise Rotary International's fight against polio in the UK and overseas.
Under Rotary International’s End Polio Now initiative, vital funds continue to be raised to battle this awful disease which mainly affects children.
Polio is now endemic in only two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan – but a recent case in London shows that it is less than 350 miles away from Ayrshire
Hunterston Rotary secretary Jim Morton said: “This is our opportunity to celebrate progress and reaffirm our commitment to eradicating polio for good.
“So far in 2023, there have been just seven cases of wild polio, compared to last year’s total of 30. We are on the brink of making humanitarian history, and Rotary continues to seek support, fundraising and advocacy so we can get over the finishing line.
“Trying to eliminate the second human disease might seem like an audacious goal, but Rotary members are tenacious as eradicating polio isn’t easy, but making history never is.
"No one should have to suffer from a preventable disease.”
It was just 36 years ago that polio paralysed 350,000 children annually. Since 1985 Rotary’s key humanitarian priority has been to rid the world of polio.
When the Rotary movement's campaign to End Polio Now began 38 years ago, there were more than 1,000 new cases a day in 125 countries, paralysing and even killing children.
Today the number of cases has fallen by 99.9 per cent.
More than $2 billion (US) has been raised worldwide by Rotary Club members, whose volunteer hours have helped protect nearly three billion children from this paralysing disease.
Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a major role in decisions by Governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Speaking about efforts locally, Mr Morton added: “Hunterston Rotary assisted man a stall at the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988.
"In 2010, two of our club members, Tom Clark and David Ennis, took part in an Immunisation Week in India.
"Over the last decade Hunterston Rotary has raised more than £8,000 for the End Polio Now campaign. We are still eager to accept donations towards this important initiative.
"Online donations can be made through the Rotary International Great Britain and Ireland website.”
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