Top Nollywood
actress and Rotary's Polio AmbassadorFunke Akindele has stepped up the
campaign to end Polio disease in Nigeria, including an active awareness campaign on Twitter. Her
tweets, especially just before and after the World Polio Day, have been calling
on Nigerians to rise up and do more to eradicate Polio in the country.
Working closely
with Rotary Nigeria, Funke has kept her voice strong on this cause. On her twitter handle, she made it known to
Nigerians and the world the goal of saving lives and why we all need to join hands to put an end toPolio. She also
restated on various platforms that "every
child has the right to live". To
drive this campaign further, she encouraged more Nigerians to add their
photos and sign up for the World's biggest commercial against Polio and the
global campaign being spearheaded by
Rotary International.
Funke Akindele
aligned strongly with the sentiments and commitment of Rotary Nigeria.
"This is our chance to make history by wiping out the second human disease
ever from the world (smallpox
is the first)"
Polio is an infantile
paralysis. It is an acute, viral and infectious disease spread from person to
person. Poliovirus enters the body through the mouth, infecting the first cells
with which it comes in contact with. It then hijacks the host cells
and begins to replicate itself. It has
been eradicated in many countries, but it is still in existence in some
developing countries, especially the 3 countries with the acronym PAN (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria
In eradicating
polio in Nigeria, Rotary International and partners created an initiative
center (NNPPC) with the goal of kicking
out polio finally. Rotary International Nigeria, pledged to eradicate the infectious disease
paralyzing children across the globe, especially in developing countries.
In Celebrating 2014
world polio day , the Chairman of the initiative Dr Tunji Funsho pointed out
that “ ONE per cent of Nigerians are still at the risk of contracting polio
virus. This might seem a small number but 1% of population of 170 million is
far from small. At the end of this year, we want Nigeria to be free of polio so
that after three years, WHO can certify Nigeria polio-free. When we do that, we will be doing two major
things. Firstly, we will be saving our
children from having polio and secondly, we will be saving the money that would
have been spent on eradication of polio and move to other important national
matters.”
To enlighten the
masses, educate and create more awareness, Rotary Nigeria NNPPC organised a
series of debates for schools on why we all need to fight polio and its
socio-economic impact taking for granted.
Expert says “ If we don’t end polio now, the disease could rebound to 10million cases in the
next 40 years.
The Rotary
"BIKE A THON ", which took place last weekend is a key platform
used to drum up awareness for Polio eradication in Nigeria. Funke used Twitter
to give the wider audience a step by step account of the family bike race and
fun event.
The End Polio Now
is a Twitter handle in many countries around the world, as well as UNICEF,
demonstrating the ability of Twitter to communicate complex messages in a
manner that is fun, simple and relatable
Photo tweeted by Funke Akindele, showing children as part
of the Polio action
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