Planting crocuses to eradicate polio
Category: CSR, Press Release
Nov 18, 2022
On Sunday 23rd October, Plessey employees and members of the Plymouth Roborough Rotary Club planted purple crocuses to mark World Polio Day.
Since the 1980s, the international Rotary Foundation has worked alongside the WHO to eradicate polio. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is the largest international public health initiative in history. Whilst vaccinating children against the disease in countries such as India, purple dye was put on their little fingers to keep track of who had the vaccine.
Three Rotary Club members joined Susie Morcom (HR Director) and Ross Geddes (Device Engineer) to plant crocuses on the Plessey Roundabout in Roborough. When they bloom in February, the crocuses will be the same shade of purple as the dye used.
The number of polio-endemic countries has dropped from 125 to just two, with over 2.5 billion children receiving vaccinations thanks to the help of Rotary. Plessey hopes that by contributing to the awareness around the Rotary’s efforts, we can bring the number down to zero and have polio become eradicated by humankind.
