Buckingham Rotarians dig for victory in fight to end polio

Buckingham Rotarians have been digging for victory – in the fight to end polio, a key aim of Rotary.

Members of Buckingham Rotary Club planted 4,000 crocus bulbs on the verge outside Wipac and Tesco in Buckingham, to provide a show of purple flowers in the spring.

Purple4Polio, represented by the planting of purple crocuses, is the name of a campaign by Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland to to raise funds and awareness for End Polio Now, Rotary’s global campaign to eradicate polio across the world.

The colour has been chosen because, when a child receives their polio drops on mass polio immunisation days, their little finger is painted with a purple dye so it is clear they have received their polio vaccine.

Worldwide, polio cases have dropped 99 per cent since the launch of Rotary’s campaign in 1985. But recent traces of poliovirus in the USA and the UK are “a disturbing reminder that until polio is eradicated everywhere, it remains a threat everywhere", said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus recently.

It has taken years of fundraising, influencing and working with partners such as the World Health Organisation and the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation to provide help on the ground.

Thanks to all this, polio caused by the wild poliovirus now exists in just two countries - Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Buckingham Rotary president Howard Mordue is pictured, second from left, with Chris Wardale, Brian Hirst, Chris Sutton, Jeff Samwell and Trevor Bluck.

To find out more about Buckingham Rotary, contact Howard Mordue at [email protected]