Milestones in Global Polio Eradication

2002

Europe certified polio-free.
Globally, only ten countries are polio-endemic at the beginning of 2002.
A funding gap of US$ 275 million threatens the global polio eradication goal.
Rotary launches the Polio Eradication Fundraising Campaign with the goal of raising US $80 million through 2003.

2001

2000

2979 wild poliovirus cases are reported worldwide - a 99% decrease from 1988.
The WHO Western Pacific Region is certified polio-free on 29 October.
Seventeen west and central African countries vaccinate 76 million children during unprecedented 'synchronized' national immunization days (NIDs).
Over 240 000 childhood deaths are averted through administration of Vitamin A during polio immunization days in over 50 countries.
A poliovirus importation from Angola to the island nation of Cape Verde, polio-free for over a decade, resulted in 56 cases of paralysis, including 17 deaths.

1999

The World Health Assembly unanimously endorses WHA resolution 52.22 to accelerate the activities of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
A large polio outbreak strikes Angola, paralysing more than 1000 children and causing over 50 deaths.
The first national immunization days in DR Congo and Sierra Leone - two conflict-affected and polio-endemic countries - are undertaken.

1998

134 million children are immunized against polio on a single day in India.
National immunization days are conducted for the first time in Somalia and southern Sudan.

1997

Mum Chanty, a 15 month old girl paralysed by polio, is found on 19 March in Cambodia - the last case of indigenous polio in the Western Pacific Region.
A polio outbreak in India among a religious minority paralyses 800 children.

1994

The WHO Region of the Americas is the first Region to be certified polio-free, on 29 September.

1991

The last case of polio in the Americas is detected in Junín, Peru in August - paralysing a young boy, Luis Fermín Tenorio Cortez.

1990

At the World Summit for Children, WHO, Rotary International, CDC, UNICEF, partner organizations and many Heads of State reaffirm their commitment to the eradication of polio.
A huge outbreak in China during 1989 and 1990 causes over 10 000 polio cases.

1988

The World Health Assembly resolves to eradicate polio by the year 2000.
An estimated 350 000 polio cases occur worldwide, in over 125 countries.
Rotary International announces that its fundraising campaign has exceeded expectations, raising US$ 247 million for polio eradication, which today has grown to US $462 million.

1986

Rotary International launches a campaign to raise US$ 120 million to fight polio, providing the impetus to begin the polio eradication initiative.

1985

Seeing the success of the first national immunization days (NIDs) against polio to supplement routine immunizations in Latin America, the Pan American Health Organization resolves to eradicate polio from the Americas.
A three-day cease-fire held during El Salvador's civil war represents the first 'Days of Tranquillity' for polio immunization.
Rotary International launches a global health campaign to aid international agencies in immunizing children in developing countries. PolioPlus is the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative.

1980

The World Health Assembly officially certifies the world free of smallpox - the first disease ever eradicated.
An estimated 500 000 children are paralysed by polio every year.

1960's

Immunization campaigns in Cuba and in Eastern Europe demonstrate that wild poliovirus can be eliminated in large geographic areas using the oral polio vaccine (OPV). OPV rapidly becomes the vaccine of choice for most national immunization programmes.

1957

Dr Albert Sabin introduces the oral polio vaccine (OPV), easier to administer and less costly than Salk's inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).

1955

1954

The first vaccine against polio, the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) developed by Dr Jonas Salk, succeeds in mass field trials in the USA.