Cumbernauld’s Arria will light up as a beacon against disease

Rotary Cumbernauld has organised the lighting project with North Lanarkshire council technicians to highlight World Polio Day on Thursday, October 24 and other events are planned too.

A purple tea dance will take place in the Royal British Legion from 1pm to 3pm - and our readers are being encouraged to organise their own events with a purple theme.

Karen Morrison, President of Rotary Cumbernauld said “We hope everyone will support these events as this is a real opportunity for all members of our communities to do something simple, but vital to stop this disease.”

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“Many of our older residents will remember the heart-

rending pictures of young children (and adults) inside an iron lung to help them breathe, or crippled,

or wearing calipers for the rest of their lives because of polio.”

However, polio cases in the world have reduced significantly since 1985 when Rotary took on the challenge of

eradicating the polio virus in the world. Then the figure was 350,000 cases worldwide, today there are

only 85 cases of the wild polio virus in only two countries - Afghanistan and Pakistan; in August 2019

Nigeria (and thus the African continent) celebrated being wild polio virus free.

It is Rotary’s primary aim to eradicate the polio virus and rid the world of the disease completely.