Africa was declared free of wild polio
A continent-wide effort spanning decades.
When the eradication campaign began in 1996, more than 75,000 African children were paralysed by polio every year. Two decades later — after 9 billion vaccinations administered by 200,000 health workers — the World Health Organization certified the continent free of wild poliovirus. The virus survives now in only two countries.
Editor's Note
Slow, patient, unglamorous work still occasionally changes the world.
