The Rotary Club of Royal Hua Hin President Phil Lawrence, 30 Club members, Rotaractors from Stamford International University supported World Polio Day at the Pranburi forest park with other Rotary Clubs in area 16. Pranburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Hua Hin Clubs attended the event supporting an environmental project planting new trees.
World Polio Day highlights the global efforts to end poliomyelitis (polio) worldwide. Polio is a life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus, which the World Health Assembly committed to eradicate in 1988.
Rotary launched the global fight against polio in 1985 and since then has helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children.
The number of polio cases worldwide has decreased from 350,000 in 1988 to less than 425 cases in 2014.
The WHO European Region was declared polio-free in 2002 and has sustained this status every year since then.
Every year on 24 October, World Polio Day raises awareness of the importance of polio vaccination to protect every child from this devastating disease, and to celebrate the many parents, professionals and volunteers whose contributions make polio eradication achievable.
To ensure a polio-free future for everyone, efforts must continue to maintain high immunisation coverage, implement high-quality surveillance to detect any presence of the virus, and prepare to respond in the event of an outbreak.
