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Thousands of purple crocus will be planted in every parish of Guernsey and in Alderney, Sark and Herm to raise awareness of the efforts to eradicate polio.
Over the coming weeks, 65,000 bulbs will be planted in a joint initiative between the two Rotary clubs in Guernsey – Rotary Club of Guernsey and Rotary Guernesiais and Floral Guernsey with the cost being covered by Ravenscroft.
"Rotary has championed the global fight against polio which used to affect over 1,000 children every single day. While the extraordinary work of countless volunteers and health workers over three decades has made extraordinary progress, Rotary will not stop until the world is free of polio," said Jannine Birtwistle from Rotary Club of Guernsey.
"We want to do all we can to remind people in the Bailiwick that polio is still a global issue which can be solved through immunisation and education. Hopefully when all these beautiful crocus flower next year, islanders will be thankful and make a donation towards our efforts."
In 1979, Rotary as an international organisation, decided to eradicate polio from the Philippines and having achieved that, in 1985 it vowed to free the world from polio. Partnering with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, it set about introducing mass immunisation programmes.
"In 1985, there were 125 countries across the world, including the UK, where polio was endemic, despite the fact that it costs just 20 pence to vaccinate a child against the disease. Rotarians set about raising US$200 million to not only run mass vaccination programmes but on monitoring and surveillance to find the sources and eradicate them," said Mrs Birtwistle, who sits on the national committee of The Rotary Foundation and is the Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland Polio Champion.
Rotary International has since raised US$1.3 billion with a further US$4 billion raised by their advocacy. Every £1 that Rotarians raise at the moment is matched with a further £2 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"Just a few weeks ago the World Health Organisation confirmed that Nigeria was no longer polio endemic. This is a huge achievement and means there are now just two countries out of the 125 where polio remains endemic – Afghanistan and Pakistan," said Mrs Birtwistle.
As part of Guernsey’s fundraising efforts, the two Rotary Clubs launched Purple Pinkie Day five years ago, so named because a purple dye is painted on the little finger of every child who has received the vaccine to identify those who have been immunised. Purple Pinkie Day and other purple themed events have been adopted by many Rotary Clubs across the world for Polio. In 2011, every region in the British Isles planted purple crocus and a purple crocus buttonhole badge now signifies the Rotary Polio campaign.
