DARLINGTON Rotary welcomed news of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Africa region being certified free of wild polio, after years of campaigning.

Polio is a debilitating disease mainly affecting children, which can cause paralysis and even death.

Darlington Rotary has campaigned significantly for the eradication of polio, alongside Rotary clubs and volunteers across the world, after pledging to play its part over 30 years ago.

The milestone was announced on Wednesday, August 26.

Darlington president Nigel Little said: "Darlington Rotary has played its part in this fantastic achievement via a number of activities.

"We have had an awareness raising event in the market hall, planted purple crocuses – the colour of the campaign - raised funds and even turned the market hall clock purple in October last year."

The certification comes four years after Nigeria, the last polio-endemic country in Africa, recorded its final case of wild polio. This means of the WHO’s six regions, five of those – accounting for 90 per cent of the world’s population – are free from polio.

Globally, more than 2.5 billion children have been protected against the disease, which have reduced the number of cases by 99.9 per cent from around 1,000 cases per day in 125 countries.

Mr Little added:: "This is a terrific landmark in the world’s battle to eradicate polio. Although it has been many years since polio has been present in the UK and Ireland, we are proud to have contributed to the global efforts to eliminate the disease for good.

"We remain committed to making the final, challenging steps towards making a polio free world a reality.

"If we don’t finish the job, it is estimated that, within ten years, as many as 200,000 children annually all over the world could succumb to polio, including here in the UK. The virus can literally be a plane ride away so vaccination is so important."

Despite this significant milestone being reached, the job to fully rid the world of polio goes on, as the virus continues to circulate in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Rotary has directly contributed more than US$2 billion to ending polio since 1985, including thousands contributed by Darlington Rotary.