By Jessica Anstice
Rotary Club of Pakenham, along with thousands of Rotarians worldwide will mark End Polio Now Day on Thursday 24 October.
Poliomyelitis (Polio) or Infantile Paralysis is caused by an infectious virus and while most infected children only have flu like symptoms, one in 200 have paralysis.
The degree of paralysis varies from a mild loss of muscle function to a total paralysis and death in extreme cases.
To date, there is no cure for the paralysis.
In 2010, Pakenham Rotarians George and Sue Blenkhorn travelled to India for National Immunisation Day.
“Polio is a nasty disease. There are only two countries with it now and if we can get it stopped, there’ll be no more polio in the world,” Mr Blenkhorn said.
“Rotary’s motto is ‘do good in the world’ and if we eliminate polio from the world it’ll do a lot of good.”
This year, the Rotary Club of Pakenham has raised over $3500 for Polio Plus, with each member contributing $100 USD.
Rotary launched Polio Plus in 1985, making it the first-ever internationally coordinated private sector support for public health initiative.
Three years later after it was launched, the World Health Organisation joined the campaign along with many national governments taking the campaign worldwide.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contribute $2 USD for each $1 USD that Rotary raise.
This year only two countries are polio endemic, Afghanistan with 16 cases and Pakistan with 72 cases.
The governments of both countries are very supportive of polio eradication.
August in Pakistan saw 8.3 million children vaccinated in a case response campaign and 39.4 children were vaccinated in their most recent National Immunisation Day.
