Two years ago, a Rotarian from India got the idea of a Rotary flame to celebrate that his country was now polio free.
Many thought that it was impossible to eradicate polio in India because of its low standards of sanitation and hygiene, not to mention that five years ago nearly half the polio cases in the world were in India. Last year, after three years without a case, India was declared polio-free by The World Health Organization.
The torch has been carried throughout many countries already including the three endemic countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria and will eventually reach Canada before it arrives at the 2015 Rotary Convention in Brazil in September.
Although the world is still not polio free, the torch represents a time when this will be the case.