More than 200 fifth and sixth year biology pupils from across the North-east will today (December 14) hear of massive efforts to rid the world of a disease which has no cure.

Dr David Salisbury, Principal Medical Officer and Director of Immunisation at the Department of Health in London, is visiting the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Medical Sciences to deliver a lecture entitled The Global Eradication of Polio.

As well as his UK responsibilities, Dr Salisbury works extensively for the World Health Organization on the Global Programme for Vaccines and is a member of the Eastern Mediterranean and the South East Asian Polio Elimination Certification Commissions.

He will discuss the progress of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which is striving to ensure that no child will ever again know the crippling effects of polio. The scheme is the largest public health initiative the world has ever known.

Dr Salisbury said: “I will talk about the underlying principles of the Initiative, what the success stories have been, what the challenges are and how we overcome them, and what still needs to be done to free the world of polio.

“This lecture is an exciting opportunity to give young people what I hope will be a fascinating insight into medicine, geography and politics in our efforts to rid the world of a second disease. Small pox was the first to be eradicated.”

Maggie Smith, Professor of Microbiology at the University’s Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “Eradicating disease agents from this planet is an enormous task but the pay off to human health is massive. The sooner we expose prospective young scientists to these really big challenges, the better.”

Dr Salisbury’s lecture - to pupils, teachers and University staff - takes place in the auditorium of the University’s Polwarth Building at 1.30pm.