WESTBURY Rotary Club members were out recently planting thousands of crocus bulbs (corms) in town to raise awareness about the fight to end polio.
Members, alongside Barbara Howitt who helped and supplied drinks and biscuits, were planting bulbs to the grassed bank in front of Prospect Square in Westbury and also to the grassy area of All Saints Church, on International World Polio Day on Monday 24th October.
The crocuses, when they bloom in the spring, will be a carpet of purple. They are reminiscent of the dye that is applied to children’s fingers to indicate that they have been vaccinated against polio.
Rotary International is a major player in the effort to eradicate polio, along with UNICEF, amongst others.
What is Polio?
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
A spokesperson for Rotary said, “Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. The goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
“As a founding member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we’ve reduced polio cases by 99.9% since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
“Rotary members have contributed almost £2billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children on 122 counties around the world.
“Today, polio remains endemic in only Afghanistan and Pakistan, although the polio virus has been detected in the river Thames. It is crucial to continue the work to keep other countries polio-free. If all vaccination stopped today, within 10 years more than 200,000 children could be paralysed by polio.”
