Members of the Midland and Penetanguishene Rotary Clubs took to the streets of downtown Midland Thursday to raise awareness about the need to fully eradicate polio.
While polio was eradicated in these parts of the world through childhood vaccination, other areas continue to be hit by the infectious disease caused by the poliovirus.
That makes raising awareness by groups like Rotary all the more essential.
During Thursday's World Polio Day, Rotarians handed out information to local residents as they walked downtown highlighting the progress that's been made on ridding the world of the disease along with what more needs to be done.
"Polio still persists in Afghanistan and Pakistan but the rest of the world is polio free," Rotarian Mike Knell explains. "Rotary members have now contributed more than $2.1 billion and recently the Government of Canada presented a cheque for $151 million to assist the Global Polio Eradication Initiative this year.
"We thank our communities for their continued support with our broad-based Rotary funding programs."
According to the World Health Organization, one in 200 polio infections leads to irreversible paralysis.
"Among those paralysed, five to 10 percent die when their breathing muscles become immobilized," WHO says. "Cases due to wild poliovirus have decreased by over 99 percentsince 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries, to just two endemic countries."
But the organization notes that as along as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.
"Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in a global resurgence of the disease," WHO adds. "In most countries, the global effort has expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective surveillance and immunization systems."
