Africa declared polio-free after decades of campaigning: WHO

The World Health Organization declared on Tuesday that Africa was free of the wild poliovirus after decades of campaigning to eradicate it.

An independent body Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) confirmed it in a WHO-hosted event that the last case was reported four years ago in the WHO’s Africa region comprising 47 countries.

Nigeria is the last country of African region to be declared free of wild poliovirus, however, just a decade ago it accounted for more than half the cases reported worldwide.

While just twenty-five years ago, the cases of children affected by the virus were in thousands.

Poliovirus –or Poliomyelitis–  is a virus that cripples children irreversibly within just hours of attacking the spinal cord.

It was declared an endemic across the world until a vaccine was found in the 1950s. However, in spite of the vaccine, many poor countries still remained cursed with the virus due to their lack of resources to afford it.

In 1988, when the WHO, UNICEF and Rotary launched the worldwide campaign to eradicate the disease, there were 350,000 cases globally. In 1996, there were more than 70,000 cases in Africa alone.

Thanks to a global effort and financial backing – some US$19 billion over 30 years – only Afghanistan and Pakistan have recorded cases this year: 87 in total.