Stripe
Synthesis and Translation of Research and Innovation from Polio Eradication
Olakunle Alonge
Journal Article
Published: 08/12/2020
Country:
Global
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) – a global effort to eradicate polio (poliovirus and its debilitating diseases, e.g. severe forms of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)) through vaccination and active surveillance – is the largest public health initiative in recent history. Since 1988, the program has delivered hundreds of billion doses of polio vaccines and vaccinated more than 2.5 billion children globally [1]. This effort has contributed to successfully wiping out cases of wild poliovirus (WPV) from almost every corner of the world, from 350,000 annual cases reported in 125 countries in 1988 to 143 cases in two countries in 2019 [2]. Endemic transmission of WPV now only occur in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and two of the three WPV strains (WPV2 and WPV3)Footnote1 have been declared eradicated as of 2019 [3, 4].