MEMBERS of Exmouth s rotary clubs are preparing to take part in a day-long project aimed at raising money for polio eradication. The day, part of a campaign called Thanks for Life, End Polio Now will be held on Tuesday, February 23, when hundreds of rotar

MEMBERS of Exmouth's rotary clubs are preparing to take part in a day-long project aimed at raising money for polio eradication.

The day, part of a campaign called Thanks for Life, End Polio Now will be held on Tuesday, February 23, when hundreds of rotary clubs across Great Britain and Ireland will take part in an effort to raise money.

Both The Rotary Club of Exmouth and the Exmouth Raleigh Rotary Club have worked in partnership to raise awareness of the End Polio Now campaign.

Raleigh has been busy visiting schools to deliver informative talks on the project.

And the Rotary Club of Exmouth has been commissioned to supply two million lapel stickers for the Thanks for Life campaign.

Polio is a highly infectious and affects the nervous system, sometimes resulting in paralysis. It is transmitted through contaminated food, drinking water, faeces and swimming pool water.

The condition mainly affects people who haven't been immunised. Most parts of the world are now polio-free following successful immunisation programmes.

Vaccination is the only effective method of preventing infection.

The global effort to eradicate polio worldwide began in 1988, led by the World Health organisation, UNICEF and the Rotary Foundation.

Between them, it has reduced the number of annual diagnoses cases from the hundreds of thousands to around a thousand.