The huge role Rotary plays in helping with the fight against polio

I WAS interested to read about the British Polio Fellowship in a letter from Ted Hill MBE (Letters: Echo, August 30).

His comments about the important work of the charity, particularly in raising awareness of Post-Polio Syndrome, are welcome, but is a pity Mr Hill did not mention Rotary’s unique initiative. The BPF web-site (britishpolio.org.uk) also fails to mention it.

In 1985, Rotary International announced a plan to eradicate polio by vaccinating every at-risk child under five. In 1988 Rotary launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in partnership with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, national governments, and later the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and has since led the campaign to raise around £1billion to implement its programme.

Our own Rotary District, comprising 90 clubs spread across the Midlands, raised over £360,000 during a major PolioPlus campaign lasting 4½ years, or about £130 per Rotarian. http:// rotary1070. org/ foundation/ polioeradication/.

I have taken part in a National Immunisation Day in India to administer the oral polio vaccine (OPV) to over 500 children, two drops at a cost of 50p per child. It is daunting to think that across India on that day, nearly 70 million children were immunised.

All who took part were uplifted by the experience and were humbled by their tiny part in an immense 30-year programme whose imminent conclusion will be the global eradication of polio.

As a result of this long-term immunisation the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped by more than 99 per cent since 1988, from about 350,000 cases annually in 125 endemic countries to single figures now in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

It is a depressing reality that until poliomyelitis is consigned to medical history, its return to this country may be only a flight away. This, of course, reinforces the importance of raising awareness of Post-Polio Syndrome Day on 2 November; I am sure Rotary will support its aims. Professor Bryan Woodward Rotary Club of Loughborough Beacon