Cross Africa off the list
No new cases of polio there since August, 2014 and the World Health Organization reports it is now polio free
The legs of Usman, a polio survivor who works in a wheelchair workshop in Kano, Nigeria. Photo:Diego Ibarra Sánchez/MeMo
The New York Times reports it has been one full year since polio was detected anywhere in Africa, a significant milestone in global health that has left health experts around the world quietly celebrating.
Wild polio is now only endemic in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan with only 42 new cases reported so far in 2015.
In an August 11 story, the Times reports, “The goal had seemed tantalizingly close in recent years, but polio always managed to roar back, particularly in Nigeria. Then officials embraced a vigorous new approach to vaccination and surveillance in that country, hiring thousands of community ‘mobilizers’ to track down the unvaccinated, opening operations centers nationwide to monitor progress and seeking out support from clerics and tribal chiefs.
“The result has been remarkable.