Taking a stand against polio
By: Patrick Ross
Rotary International is on a mission to make the world free of polio.
“We’ve got 99 percent of the world eradicated of the disease, we are
down from several hundred thousand cases annually to just a couple
hundred,” said Cindy Legg, Rotary International District
Governor-elect and member of the Paintsville Rotary Club. “Pakistan,
Nigeria, and Afghanistan are the only three countries that still have
cases of wild polio,” she added.
The last diagnosed person with the condition in the United States was
freed in 1999, according to the Mayo Clinic website
(www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polio/). The online site
states that polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most
severe form causes paralysis and difficulty breathing. It also causes
crippleness and body deformation. People afflicted with the disease
end up wearing leg braces in order to walk and remain stable or find
themselves confined to a wheelchair. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
is known for having suffered from polio though many U.S. citizens were
unaware of his affliction during the time of his presidency.
Legg said she has learned that when nurses go to homes in other
countries to immunize the children against polio the parents will get
their babies to have them immunized, but when they see a child sitting
on the floor that can barely function, the parents consider that child
worthless and often turn away the offer of an immunization.
Rotary International partners with World Health Organization and
UNICEF. They also partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
which has been partnering with Rotary International since 2007. The
Gates Foundation matches two to one every dollar Rotary can raise.
That partnership will exist until 2018. Legg says that by 2018, the
polio virus may be fully eradicated. “To be certified polio free,
countries have to go without any new polio cases for three years,”
Legg said.
Join in today, Oct. 24, for World Polio Day with a livestream event
online at endpolio.com. The livestream event will start at 7:30 p.m.
with guest speakers and live music in an effort to raise awareness to
end polio. For more information on polio and the Friday night
livestream event, visit endpolio.com. If you would like to make a
donation to helping rid the world of polio, you can call Cindy Legg at
789-8119.
By: Patrick Ross
Rotary International is on a mission to make the world free of polio.
“We’ve got 99 percent of the world eradicated of the disease, we are
down from several hundred thousand cases annually to just a couple
hundred,” said Cindy Legg, Rotary International District
Governor-elect and member of the Paintsville Rotary Club. “Pakistan,
Nigeria, and Afghanistan are the only three countries that still have
cases of wild polio,” she added.
The last diagnosed person with the condition in the United States was
freed in 1999, according to the Mayo Clinic website
(www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polio/). The online site
states that polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most
severe form causes paralysis and difficulty breathing. It also causes
crippleness and body deformation. People afflicted with the disease
end up wearing leg braces in order to walk and remain stable or find
themselves confined to a wheelchair. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
is known for having suffered from polio though many U.S. citizens were
unaware of his affliction during the time of his presidency.
Legg said she has learned that when nurses go to homes in other
countries to immunize the children against polio the parents will get
their babies to have them immunized, but when they see a child sitting
on the floor that can barely function, the parents consider that child
worthless and often turn away the offer of an immunization.
Rotary International partners with World Health Organization and
UNICEF. They also partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
which has been partnering with Rotary International since 2007. The
Gates Foundation matches two to one every dollar Rotary can raise.
That partnership will exist until 2018. Legg says that by 2018, the
polio virus may be fully eradicated. “To be certified polio free,
countries have to go without any new polio cases for three years,”
Legg said.
Join in today, Oct. 24, for World Polio Day with a livestream event
online at endpolio.com. The livestream event will start at 7:30 p.m.
with guest speakers and live music in an effort to raise awareness to
end polio. For more information on polio and the Friday night
livestream event, visit endpolio.com. If you would like to make a
donation to helping rid the world of polio, you can call Cindy Legg at
789-8119.
