Rotary at work in South Shropshire – We meet at 7.00 PM at the Feathers Hotel on the 2nd and the 4th Tuesday of the month.
The club is sad to hear of the death of Stewart Officer. Stewart retired to near Ludlow after a career, mainly overseas in oil exploration and production, and was Club president in 2012/13. He was pre-deceased by his wife Anne and they leave a son and a daughter.AJT/19/11/2024
Organiser, Tom Hunt, was delighted with the response to Ludlow Rotary Club’s ‘Walk a Mile and donate £1 for Polio’ event held last Sunday (27 October).
Speaking at its conclusion, Tom said “We are grateful to all those who supported us on Sunday. Through their efforts, and with the support of the Gates Foundation, £1,150 was raised. This has been calculated as enough to save 5,750 children from polio.”
“Our primary purpose in holding the event was to raise the profile of efforts internationally by Rotary, along with other agencies, to eradicate this devastating disease worldwide. When the battle began some 40 years ago 350,000 children were being paralyzed by polio every year in 125 countries. Today, as a result of an intensive immunization programme, the incidence of polio has been reduced by 99.9% and the wild polio virus is now only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan where just 46 cases have been identified so far this year.”
“However, until the ultimate goal of eradication is achieved, huge numbers of children still have to receive their polio vaccinations each year.”
Polio is often described as the world’s forgotten disease and something that should have been made history a long time ago. Because of the efforts of Rotary and its partners over the years, nearly 19 million people who would otherwise have been paralysed are walking, and more than 1.5 million people are alive who would otherwise have died. Failure to eradicate polio could result in as many as 200,000 new cases worldwide every year within a decade.
Rotary members continue to be key players in many aspects of the polio programme including on the ground in a number of countries as well as fundraising and advocacy. When the world is finally declared polio free, it will be just the second human disease ever to be eradicated, after smallpox.
28/10/24. Barry Forrester