THE statue of composer Edward Elgar in Worcester's High Street will be illuminated purple tomorrow evening (Wednesday) as part of the fight against the disease polio.
The event has been organised by Worcester Rotary Club as part of the charity's international campaign against the disease.
The colour purple has been chosen because it is the colour of the dye put on a child’s finger to show they have been immunised against polio.
In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus program, the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children.
Since then, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries.
Today, there are only three countries that have never stopped transmission of polio: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Just 22 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2017, which is a reduction of more than 99.9 per cent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day.
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