Learning / fundraising
One mile of coins to help end polio
Bristol schools join together to create one mile of coins to help rid the world of polio forever
It costs just 36p to vaccinate one child against polio. It’s hoped that the disease will be completely eradicated by 2018. However funds are needed, so Rotary in Bristol is handing out one-foot strips to Bristol schools to be filled with donated coins, in an effort to raise £15,000 for vaccinations in countries where polio still occurs, such as Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The campaign was launched on World Polio Day, October 24, when Rotarians around the world work to eradicate polio from the world for good. All the money raised from the event will be trebled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which was set up by the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and his wife.
David Wells of Bristol Breakfast Rotary Club is organising this campaign. He said: “We are asking school children and people of all ages to collect their small change and complete a one-foot long strip. It would be great if we could get rid of this terrible disease forever.But the cause needs funds to make this possible.”
is needed now More than ever
Each strip can carry around £2.90 and the event will end with the laying out of all the strips in The Mall, Cribbs Causeway, on February 21.
Bristol Mayor George Ferguson suffered from the infectious disease, which can be fatal, when he was one years-old. Mr Ferguson was paralysed down his right side but eventually learnt to walk again with the aid of a leg brace he wore until he was four.
He said: “World Polio Day is not only about recognising polio as a truly debilitating disease, which continues to have a devastating impact on people’s lives. It’s about working together to end polio once and for all.”
If polio is not eradicated from the remaining countries with the disease, there is always the danger that it will spread back into countries currently free of polio.
The Rotary started its campaign to eradicate Polio in 1985 when there were more than 1,000 new cases of polio every day. Since then Rotary and its partners, WHO, UNICEF and National Governments have wiped out polio from 122 countries and reduced the number of cases by 99.9%.
The last country to be declared free from polio was India early in 2014, after millions of children had been vaccinated.
For more information about this campaign and how to obtain a strip or donate on-line or by text visit www.bristolpoliomile.org.uk
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