Nigeria now polio free -- only 2 countries left

Posted by Peter Roaf

on Sep 25, 2015

Rotary International has been a leader in the global "End Polio Now" campaign for the past 36 years and the Rotary Club of Ladner has been contributing to this campaign over the years.

It is cause for celebration on this day, September 25, 2015, that the World Health Organization (WHO) announces that Nigeria is now polio-free and has been officially removed from the list of countries where polio is endemic.

It’s been 14 months since any cases of polio caused by the wild virus have been detected there. Nigeria is the last country in Africa to be declared polio-free.

With Nigeria’s historic achievement, polio remains endemic in only two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. That means transmission of the virus has never been stopped there.

Rotary International President Ravi Ravindran, of Sri Lanka, says: “On behalf of the entire Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we thank volunteers, health workers, and parents in communities across Nigeria for their tireless commitment to ensuring every last child is protected against this devastating disease. In the months ahead, their dedication will remain as important as ever, as we work to keep Nigeria polio-free and to eliminate polio from its final strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Ladner Rotarians Penny and Chris Offer are among thousands of Rotarians who have helped administer polio vaccine over the years, as Penny is seen here in India earlier this year, along with the many millions of dollars donated through Rotary International to fight polio around the world

Rotary, along with its global partners, has reduced polio cases by 99 percent worldwide since the first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Rotarians have helped immunize more than 2 billion children against polio, a crippling lifetime disease, in 122 countries.

For more information on this announcement >>click here>>