Fiona Bruce MP supports End Polio Now campaign
Fiona Bruce MP is supporting the Rotary International ‘End Polio Now’ campaign.
A reception was recently held in the Houses of Parliament to celebrate the Polio-Free certification of the South East Asia region, meaning that countries such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar (formerly Burma) are now officially free from Polio.
About 80% of the world is now Polio free and the End Polio Now campaign aims to eradicate the virus completely by 2018. This is to be achieved through a combination of investment from Governments, NGOs like Rotary, corporations and the general public to roll out high quality vaccination campaigns and build and sustain the necessary immunisation services.
The campaign is focussed on both eradicating polio in the endemic countries of Pakistan Nigeria and Afghanistan but also controlling outbreaks in previously polio free areas, 60% of all these outbreaks in 2013 were due to conflicts which interrupted vaccination campaigns.
Fiona Bruce said: “The campaign to end polio has made such strong headway in combating this entirely preventable disease, to have over 80% of the world free from the polio virus is truly amazing, but the vision of having eradicated polio completely by 2018 is well within reach. Rotary has worked incredibly hard to promote this campaign and I commend all they have done. We now need a real push to end Polio for good.”
