ROTARY Hamilton welcomed South Launceston Rotary Club guests Phil and Joyce Ogden last week, who have been cycling from Adelaide to Sydney, connecting with Rotary clubs along the way to promote and raise money for the campaign ‘End Polio Now’.

Mr and Mrs Ogden have been riding a tandem bicycle to their destination via the Great Ocean Road and visited Rotary Hamilton on Wednesday night before heading off to Horsham on Thursday morning.

The ‘End Polio Now’ has had a rich history of affiliation with Rotary, and has extended its campaign internationally.

Rotarian, John Sever was the Infectious Diseases chief at US National Institute of Health and friend of both Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, the American scientists who developed the first vaccines against polio in the 1950s.

From there, Rotary International president, Sir Clem Renou (1978-79) initiated a project to eradicate polio from the Philippines which was funded by Rotary.

In 1985, Rotary launched Polio Plus Initiative and three years later the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched in conjunction with WHO, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

With help from its partners, Rotary has helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries and has reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide, which the club said will be continued “until we end the disease for good.”

“The eradication of polio is one of Rotary’s longest standing and most significant efforts,” they said.

This year, there has been one reportable case in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan.

Rotary Hamilton gives a sizable donation every year to this major project from funds raised at Sheepvention and their Art Show.

All are invited to support this project by donating directly via the website my.rotary.org/en/polioplus-fund or to Mr and Mrs Odgen’s End Polio Now page at raise.rotary.org/joyce+phil/challenge