Purple Pinkie
Rotary’s Program to Eradicate Polio.
Purple Pinkie is a campaign by Rotary District 1240 to raise money for Polio Plus – one of the world’s biggest ever immunisation programm.Polio is easy to prevent. A child can be vaccinated for just 50p, protecting the child against this crippling disease for life. When a child is vaccinated, they have a purple stamp put on their little Pinkie.The aim of Polio Plus is to rid the world of Polio once and for all, destroying the virus in every last country.

Polio, an infectious disease that can cause paralysis and sometimes death, still strikes children, mainly under the age The Purple Pinkie Project raises money for the vaccine to be given to these children by Rotary volunteers. As there is no cure for polio, the best protection is prevention. For as little as 50 pence worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. In 1985, Rotary International decided to direct its focus on eliminating polio worldwide. It would be only the 2nd disease wiped from the face of the earth.
The PolioPlus program was formed, and Rotary partnered with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centre for Disease Control. In 1985, polio existed in 125 countries and today, polio exists in 4 countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria. Rotary has donated over $600 MILLION, and have give the polio vaccine to over 2 BILLION children worldwide. This effort has protected 5 million children from contracting polio, and prevented the deaths of an estimated 1 million children