Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland

As we enter the final 16 stage of the World Cup, football fans are urged to give a thought to the other football which has been kicked about Africa.

Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) is continuing to support Rotary International's promise to kick polio out of Africa and the world. This campaign took centre stage as a football, signed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and dignitaries from more than 20 African nations, received a rousing welcome at the humanitarian organisation’s annual convention in Montreal.

The arrival of the football culminates the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign - a four-month, Pan-African public awareness drive tapping the continent’s excitement over the 2010 World Cup and getting the public ready for massive immunisation rounds this spring which will target more than 100 million African children under the age of five.

A virtual version of the ball was launched in May and has gathered nearly 10,000 online signatures thus far. After the 2010 World Cup, the signatures will be formally presented to the other spearheading partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative: the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“While most of the world is polio-free, it still threatens children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East,” said Rotary International President, John Kenny. “Kick Polio Out of Africa shows the tremendous resolve of the global community to come together to fight this disease. Rotary and its partners are committed to kicking polio out of Africa, and indeed, out of existence forever.“

When former President Nelson Mandela launched the Kick Polio out of Africa campaign originally in 1996, almost all countries in Africa were still suffering from polio. Today, polio eradication sits at a critical juncture. Across Africa, 10 of the 15 previously polio-free countries re-infected in 2009 have successfully stopped their outbreaks. Nowhere is progress more evident than in Nigeria, the last remaining polio endemic country on the continent,  where case numbers have plummeted by 99 percent, from 312 cases at this time last year, to three cases in 2010.

RIBI members work throughout the year to raise funds for the Thanks for Life, End polio Now campaign. Volunteers also travel to India to personally deliver the life-saving vaccine to children under the age of five. Next February will see the second Thanks for Life day where clubs across the country will reach out to communities to generate funds and ask for support to wiipe out the virus for good.

To get involved or to join RIBI, contact your nearest Rotary club by using our club finder.

Thursday, 24 June 2010