Newtownabbey civic buildings to be lit purple to highlight polio campaign

The Newtownabbey civic buildings of Mossley Mill and Ballyclare Town Hall will be lit up purple to mark World Polio Day (Saturday, October 24).

In Antrim and Newtownabbey borough, the light-up will take place on Friday, October 23.

The event will see many iconic buildings, landmarks and local areas around the world bathed in purple light.

Polio is a highly infectious disease that mostly affects children under the age of five. Although preventable by vaccine, it continues to threaten children in certain parts of the world today.

Purple has become the symbolic colour in the fight against polio, inspired by the colour of the dye painted on the little finger of a child to signify they have received the potentially life-saving polio vaccine.

President of Rotary Club Newtownabbey, Paul Hutchinson, said: “When Rotary and its partners launched the Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year.

“Today, polio cases have been reduced by 99.9 per cent, and just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan - 51 this year and Pakistan - 74.

“Since 1985, Rotary has contributed more than $2.1 billion to ending polio and we in Rotary Newtownabbey with the support of our local community have continually supported the campaign from the beginning.”

With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine.

That means around two billion doses of the vaccine to more than 400 million children in up to 60 countries every single year.

Rotary has committed to raising US$50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that two-to-one, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million.

Rotary Club Newtownabbey has been serving the community of Newtownabbey for over 50 years.

Currently meeting on Zoom but normally at Corr’s Corner Hotel on a Tuesday evening for an hour.

The club has consistently supported NI Hospice, Martin Residential Trust, Monkstown Village Initiatives together with a range of young people’s programmes (cooking, photography, writing, leadership) and international projects such as Humanitarian Relief (ShelterBox), Bikes for Africa and Lend With Care.

For more informaiton, check out the Rotary Newtownabbey Facebook page.

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