Local effort to end polio

Photo: Contributed

In honor of World Polio Day, on Oct. 24, The Rotary Club of Penticton-Okanagan and The Rotary Club of Penticton will be raising awareness of the End Polio Now initiative.

Rotarians will be hoisting their End Polio Now signs on the highway near the South Okanagan Events Centre on Monday between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. 

The initiative is part of Rotary's 27-year mission to eradicate the crippling childhood disease.

Since 1985, Rotary has contributed nearly $1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries.

Locally, Rotarians donate personally to the End Polio Now campaign through The Rotary Foundation. The disease remains endemic in three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- although other countries remain at risk for imported cases.

A highly infectious disease, polio causes paralysis and is sometimes fatal. As there is no cure, the best protection is prevention.

For as little as 60 cents U.S. worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against the disease for life.

Rotary initiated the campaign and has since partnered with The World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to eradicate this disease.