UNICEF health consultant Hadiza Waya immunizes a child during a polio vaccination campaign on April 22, 2017, in Kano, Nigeria.obody will ever know the identity of the thousands of African children who werekilled or paralyzed by polio this year. They would have been hard to keep track of no matter what because in ordinary times, they would have followed thousands last year and thousands the year before and on back in a generations-long trail of suffering and death.
“Today’s victory over the wild poliovirus in the African region is a testament to what can happen when partners from a variety of sectors join forces to accomplish a major global health goal,” says John Hewko, general secretary and CEO of Rotary International. “[It is] something the world can and should aspire to during these turbulent times.”
Some countries were a lighter lift than others. In the U.S. the disease was eradicated in 1979, well before the GPEI even began its work. Other nations followed: In 1994 the Americas were declared polio-free. Europe as a whole got a clean bill of health in 2002, when all 53 countries in the WHO’s designated European region were declared free of the virus. Massive vaccination efforts began in India in 1997, which eradicated the virus in 2014.
“The polio eradication program in Nigeria has gone through some difficult times, but I never once doubted that this day would come,” says Dr. Tunji Funsho, a former cardiologist who is the chair of Rotary International’s Polio-Plus Committee in Nigeria. “Any time that we’ve experienced a setback, Rotary and our partners have been able to find solutions and develop new strategies for reaching vulnerable children.”Other challenges remain.
Great job who scientists 🙏