Rotary Club participates in Purple Pinkie Walk, observance of World Polio Awareness Day
Oct. 27—It has been the mission of Rotary International to bring awareness to public health issues over its years of existence.
For the past 40 years, polio eradication has been a major goal of local and international organizations and their dedication has resulted in over $2.1 million being raised.
Last Wednesday, the London Rotary Club — joined by members of the Corbin organization — remembered World Polio Day with a walk around Whitley Branch Veterans Park to celebrate their success with the eradication efforts to eliminate the paralyzing disease. The Purple Pinkie Walk is so called because Rotary members usually dip their pinkie finger into purple dye to commemorate the event. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year members taped purple tape onto their finger to eliminate the spread of germs. But regardless of the circumstances, the Purple Pinkie Walk went on, with Rotarians still setting their goal to eliminate the disease.
Polio primarily affects children under age 5. It is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, causing paralysis.
Melissa Conn, president of the London Rotary Club, gave some information regarding the Rotary Club mission as well as facts regarding polio infections.
Although not commonly heard of in the United States and most other countries, polio is still affecting children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Statistics show that there were 51 cases in Afghanistan and 74 cases in Pakistan in 2020. Those cases drastically fell in 2021, with only 1 reported case thus far this year in each country.
But that shouldn't mean that polio is non-existent. With the current political upheaval in Afghanistan, Rotarians remain steadfast in seeing that polio does not have a resurgence in other countries. "It is crucial to keep up these efforts," Conn said. "But at what cost?"
Research shows that it costs only $3 to fully protect a child against polio. And, 430 million children, in total, were vaccinated in 39 countries in 2017. The big cost, however, is conducting polio surveillance around the world. It is estimated that it costs $100 million to continue these safeguard efforts against the disease.
Over the years, Rotary Clubs have contributed more than $2.1 million and uncountable volunteer hours to the effort to prevent nearly 3 million children in 22 countries from polio. Through the influence of Rotary Clubs, government agencies have contributed more than $10 billion to assist those efforts.
As part of their mission, the Rotary Clubs were founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and has seen a 99.9% since the first vaccination of children in the Philippines in 1979.
Polio was prominent prior to a vaccine being developed in 1955. In fact, President Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted polio in his late 30's and eventually lost the use of his legs. Because of his own disability, Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes, which once focused on fundraising and research to treat and prevent the disabling disease. Although the March of Dimes has refocused their goal toward premature birth and infantile mortality, the Rotarians across the world continue to raise money to eliminate polio completely.
