FOR some 35 years the Rotary Foundation, in conjunction with the Bill Gates Foundation, have been battling very successfully to eradicate polio in the third world. In that time Rotary members around the world have contributed nearly £2 billion.

Today cases are being reported in Afghanistan and in Pakistan where Taliban or extremist Islamic groups are continuing to prevent a more rapid expansion of the polio campaign.

A reminder of this came only in the last week when militants killed two policemen guarding a polio vaccination site in north-west Pakistan.

But now the spectre of polio has once more risen its head in the UK where the last case of natural polio was recorded in 1984 following the introduction of vaccines from the 1950s.

Hundreds of thousands of children are to receive boosters in the London area.

Polio used to be one of the most feared childhood diseases, even in the UK. It can attack the nervous system and - in just a few hours - leave someone paralysed.

‘Polio had almost been forgotten in this country but now there are real concerns and it highlights Rotary’s consistent warning that you need to keep on top of vaccination as polio can so easily come back again,’ says Peter Harrison, President of Dawlish Water Rotary, who continue to regularly support the world-wide polio eradication campaign.

For more details visit Rotary’s End Polio website.