The Rotary Club of Midsomer Norton & Radstock will be planting four thousand bulbs which will be a reminder each spring of the fight for a polio free world.

Over 500 bulbs have been donated to the Rotakids at St. John’s Primary School, Midsomer Norton to plant or sell to raise funds. An additional 1,500 bulbs have been sold in Leigh-upon-Mendip by impassioned club member, Martin Carter, including 200 Martin donated to the primary school.

None of this would be possible without teamwork and Rotary’s success to date in tackling the disease by uniting together with volunteers and other organisations.

Purple has become a symbolic colour in the fight against polio, inspired by the colour of the dye painted on the little finger of a child to signify they have received a potentially life-saving polio vaccine.

Nick Candy, Rotary Club of Midsomer Norton & Radstock President, commented: “We’re proud to be planting these purple symbols of the Polio campaign and working with the Rotakids Club at St. John’s Primary School makes it even more special. Only together can we end polio and we can all play our part in the continuing global efforts to eradicate the disease.”

Since Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) over thirty years ago, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.99%, from about 350,000 cases a year in 125 countries to just thirty-three cases in 2018 and with just two countries reporting cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In order to sustain this progress, around 2 billion doses of the vaccine still have to be given to more than 400 million children in up to sixty countries every single year.

Without full funding, political commitment and volunteer-led social action, there is a real threat that polio could return, putting children worldwide at risk.