Ever wondered why the purple crocus is the emblem of the International Polio campaign? Paul Wilks at Ryde Rotary explains. Ed
Planted in various locations across the Island, Ryde Rotary Club’s purple crocuses are blooming. A purple crocus is the adopted emblem of Rotary Club International’s campaign to eradicate polio worldwide.
Campaign has raised £millions
The amazing progress of the campaign started in 1985 and has raised hundreds of millions of pounds with the Gates Foundation grant matching.
The money goes to finance the immunization programme which has almost eradicated polio worldwide with only one case reported in the whole of last year.
Not Polio free yet
The end goal is now insight, but complacency is now the fear. Africa could about to be declared polio free with Asia and Afghanistan coming close, but we are not there yet.
The WHO say that
“It is medical – even after the final case of polio has been recorded in Africa and Asia we need to continue our immunization programmes for a further three years in order to ensure that the Wild Polio Virus is expunged from the planet.”
Why Crocuses?
Crocuses were chose as the emblem as the purple colour matches the colour of the dye painted on children’s hands after they had been immunised.
As part of their campaign and fundraising Ryde Rotary Club having been planting crocuses locally to highlight to school children the existence of this devastating disease.
You can help by buying crocus corms through Ryde Rotary Club.
