Preston South Rotary Club wants to ‘End Polio Now’ with £1 mile walk

The district, covering Cumbria and Lancashire has some 1,500 Rotarians many of whom will walk through the centres they serve this weekend, with the Preston South Club walk taking place at The Beach Hut, Preston Marina at 2pm.

The walk ‘A Mile for Polio’ can be sponsored by as many people who wish to do so, but no-one should donate more than £1.

Howard Moorby President of the Rotary Club of Preston South said: “40 years ago Rotary International started a campaign to rid the world of the dreadful, crippling Polio disease.

“At the time we started, over 1,000 people per day were infected worldwide with many hotspots in Asia and other large numbers in West Africa.

“However, the Wild Polio Virus still exists and the Rotary is determined to eradicate it altogether by continuing to vaccinate children in any endemic countries wherever needed to prevent reinfection.

“To achieve this remarkable outcome we need to raise awareness as well as funds to “End Polio Now”.

With a vision to rid the world of Polio, the Rotary International charity money will be used directly by Rotary International Foundation to fund the fight against polio.

Monies raised on the day from the initiative will be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Last year the club held a sponsored virtual walk to the Algarve in turn raising in excess of £10,000 for St. Catherine’s Hospice.

Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours, mainly affecting children under five.

Although the UK has been free of the disease for over 30 years and only two recent cases reported in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with no cure, one in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed five to 10 percent die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.