As part of Rotary International’s campaign to End Polio Now, we have produced a ‘Railway Past Times’ calendar for 2015. It will be ready for sale at the exhibition on 19 April at £4 each (or £3.50 if you buy ten or more). All proceeds will be donated the the End Polio Now appeal.
The calendar is now available to buy online via ebay. The price is £5 online because that includes postage and packing. 100% of the proceeds will still go to the appeal.
Rotary International pledged in 1985 to eradicate polio. In partnership with health agencies we have reduced cases by 99% worldwide since 1979.
Once there were 350,000 new cases every year. Now there are just a few hundred worldwide. Only three countries still remain with endemic polio: Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Polio is the short name of poliomyelitis, the crippling disease caused by the polio virus. One in 200 cases results in paralysis, which leads to the limbs of the victim becoming limp and disfigured. The paralysis is almost always irreversible and can kill.
Regular immunisation activities, supported by hundreds of millions of pounds raised by Rotary, have a positive impact. Polio strikes mainly children under five years of age. It is passed through person-to-person contact. The virus enters the body through the mouth and spreads where hygiene is poor.
There is no cure, but polio can be prevented. 25 pence worth of vaccine protects a child for life.
We have not had polio in Great Britain for a long time. This calendar is one of the ways that your Rotary Club in Fordingbridge is raising funds to eradicate this dreadful disease from the whole world.
