Sarita McLean

I'm challenging myself to walk a minimum of 150km throughout the month and raise vital funds that will help eradicate and prepare us for a Polio free world.

Polio is the world’s forgotten disease and something that should have been made history a long time ago. It is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

This October I will walk for those that can’t and raise vital funds that will help eradicate and prepare us for a Polio free world. A polio-free world does not mean it’s over either. It requires updated vaccination policies, including the phased withdrawal of oral polio vaccines (OPV), appropriate containment of the poliovirus in facilities, the certification that polio has been eradicated, and planning for the transition of knowledge and infrastructure to serve other health goals.