Purple Pinky for Polio
Nicholas McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:25): (527) One of the great honours I have performing this role as a member of Parliament is to get to know better many community groups in Ringwood in my electorate, among others, as you know, President. I have become quite accustomed to and acquainted with the work of the Maroondah Rotary Club. In particular I would like to draw attention to their forthcoming fundraiser coming up on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 October, and that is Purple Pinky for Polio. So it is in that vein that I ask also the Minister for Health to get her little pinky out and turn it purple and to come on down to Croydon Central to speak with them and indulge her purple pinky, of course with a gold coin donation at the same time. She too might be able to assist very many around the world to eradicate polio. Polio of course has afflicted very, very many children right around the globe, including right here in Australia, and in fact we have come tantalising close to eradicating polio. The Rotary Club in Maroondah have already raised $800 this year, and this can provide as many as 133 vaccinations. Previously they raised $2200, in the last 12 months, and every dollar they raise is then matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the order of two additional dollars. That is important of course because the fight continues. In particular Pakistan and Afghanistan are two countries where it remains endemic to this day, and that is the focus of much of the effort that occurs.
There are five great reasons to get on board with this campaign. One is because 19 million people who would otherwise be paralysed by polio are walking today and every day of the week and 1.5 million people who would otherwise have died are alive. The second reason is to invest in our future – that is, polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year if we do not get on top of this, so it would make a healthier world for all our children. Third, it would improve child health. Polio surveillance networks are critical in detecting and preventing not only polio itself but also other diseases. Four, it saves money. The evidence is that we have already saved in the order of $27 billion in healthcare costs since 1988, and we expect to save a further $14 billion by 2050. And last but not least, we would like to make polio eradication and polio itself history. It would be one of the greatest public health achievements of our lifetime.