I WONDER how many of us remember the polio epidemic of the 1950s, when the virus left thousands of people needing to spend sometimes years in an iron lung, which would do their breathing for them.
Roger Frank from the Eden Valley has spent many months building a new, working iron lung, in order to demonstrate to people of all ages how polio has been virtually eradicated around the world.
More than 30 years ago, back in 1985, Rotary International began the process of eradicating polio forever.
In 1988 there were 1,000 new cases of polio worldwide every day. Now, with the combined help of Rotary International, Unicef, the World Health Organisation and the Bill Gates Foundation, that number has dropped to a handful of cases every year.
But there is still more to be achieved. If we let the momentum die, there could be thousands of cases each year once again.
If you wish to find out more about this remarkable but unfinished story, you can visit the Rotary Iron Lung stand at the Westmorland County Show on September 14 and see the machine in action.
Trevor Hughes
Kendal
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