Eradicating Polio

Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988 and efforts to vaccinate children around the world, global polio cases have decreased by over 99 percent.  This disease once took the lives of more than 300,000 people a year; we are now just 1,300 cases per year away from achieving global eradication of this devastating disease.  Only four countries remain polio endemic: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

However, the importation of poliovirus due to travel has led to a recent resurgence of polio cases in long-uninfected areas, like Western Africa.  The lesson is clear: as long as polio exists in any one country, every other country is at risk of infection.  A concerted global effort to get this last mile is needed now more than ever.

Over the coming weeks, ONE will be highlighting progress and remaining challenges in the fight against polio, with a particular emphasis on Nigeria, the last endemic African country.  Nigeria has been conducting nationwide polio immunization activities, and the government is moving forward with a plan to eradicate polio within the next few years.