A Rotarian from Stone will be once again be travelling to India to supporting a National Immunisation Day for polio in the most at-risk areas of the country.
Philip Leason will be joining more than 250 Rotary volunteers next week from across the UK and Ireland, Belgium, the US, Japan, Australia and Holland to help with the immunisation of children across India.
This is an extremely encouraging response from Rotary members to keep India polio free, after the tremendous efforts by all to eradicate the disease from the area. Although the country is now free from polio, there is still the real risk of re-infection from the high number of cases found in nearby Pakistan. It is essential that high levels of immunisation are maintained to keep India polio free.
The aim of this year’s National Immunisation Day is to vaccinate over 172 million children under the age of 5. The immunisation, which is administered by two simple drops on the tongue, can be carried out easily by someone with no medical experience, and is crucial to keeping polio at bay.
Rotary hopes to continue to send out volunteers in the coming years, until this type of immunisation is replaced with an injection, a procedure that would require medically trained personnel.
Philip – who is also the chairman of Stone Historical Society and a local borough councillor – said:” It is very humbling to think that you are playing a small part to eradicate polio from the world. As polio has been common in India the parents of the children being immunised are aware of the debilitating effect of the disease and are grateful of Rotarians travelling from the U.K. to ensure that their children do not suffer.”
Mike Yates, Polio Plus Subcommittee Chair and the leader of the trip, added: “I am amazed at the continued interest from Rotarians in protecting India from being re-infected by polio. This is one of the biggest groups we have taken over in years, which show that people are still really passionate about keeping this disease at bay.”
