International Rotary Club Mijas marks World Polio Day

Members of the Mijas branch set up an informative stand in the centre of La Cala to raise awareness to the foundation's End Polio Now campaign

Tony Bryant

Friday, 2 November 2018, 11:36

Mijas. The International Rotary Club Mijas participated in the annual World Polio Day events last week, with an initiative aimed at raising funds for, and awareness of, victims of poliomyelitis.

Celebrated around the world on 24 October, the day is organised by Rotary International, the global foundation that has so far helped immunise more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Rotary International has played a key role in the reduction of polio cases since the first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Over the last 30 years, it has contributed more than 1.8 billion dollars towards eradicating the paralysing and potentially deadly disease.

Members of the Mijas branch set up an informative stand in the centre of La Cala de Mijas to raise awareness to the foundation's End Polio Now campaign, part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Polio is an infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is based on preventing infection by immunising every child until transmission stops and the world is polio free.

Rotary Club Member, Anita Noordzij, said: "We were really encouraged by the interest in the End Polio Now programme because with everybody's help we can get one step closer to a polio-free world."

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