UK LEADS FINAL PUSH TO MAKE POLIO HISTORY
Rotary’s president in Great Britain and Ireland has welcomed the UK government’s £100 million cash boost towards the global battle against polio.
Denis Spiller said he was proud that Rotary has been the catalyst for a worldwide campaign which, he believes, will help in the final push towards eliminating polio for good.
International Development Secretary, Priti Patel, this morning (Friday) announced the multi-million pound commitment from the UK, which will be channelled through the World Health Organisation to implement programmes of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Mr Spiller said, “This huge pledge from the UK government helps close the funding gap to a point where the end is now truly affordable and in our grasp. Polio will very soon be confined to the history books.”
“Polio will very soon be confined to the history books.”
Announcing the £100 million award, Ms Patel pointed out that the UK has been at the forefront of fighting global threats including polio. By making this push towards eradication by 2020, she predicted it will save 45 million children from contracting the disease.
“Polio has no place in the 21st Century. This devastating and highly infectious disease causes painful paralysis and is incurable – trapping the world’s poorest people in a cycle of grinding poverty,” explained the International Development Secretary.
“The world is closer than it ever has been to eradicating polio for good, but as long as just one case exists in the world, children everywhere are still at risk.”
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