What is that Polio Picture? What will it take?
A little history - Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, progress towards eradicating polio was proceeding at a remarkable rate. During the 1940s and ’50s, when polio outbreaks were a common scourge of the summer months, the disease killed or paralysed more than half a million people worldwide each year – mostly children. The introduction of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and, later, live attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) led to a dramatic reduction in the incidence of polio in higher-income countries during the 1960s and ’70s.
But it wasn’t until the 1980s that the battle against polio really commenced.
At that time, community- and school-based surveys revealed that polio was the leading cause of paralysis in lower-income countries, with one in every 200 polio infections causing paralysis.
In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the worldwide eradication of the disease, and a public-private partnership called the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched. Led by national governments, together with the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, GPEI has made huge progress in protecting countries’ populations against polio through widespread OPV campaigns.
Advocate, Donate & Educate to END POLIO NOW & FOREVER!
20,000,000 Children Saved from the Paralysis of Polio Since 1988
Total paralysis cases | Year-to-date 2022 | Total 2021 | Total 2020 | Total 2019 | Total 2018 |
Globally | 30 | 6 | 140 | 176 | 33 |
- in endemic countries: | 22 | 5 | 140 | 176 | 33 |
- in post-endemic countries: | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 Wild Polio Cases – Pakistan 20, Afghanistan 2, Mozambique 8
"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!"
- Dolly Parton, Singer, Actress, Humanitarian, and Winner of the 2022 Courage & Civility Award
