On Friday, September 25, 2015, Rotary International announced that Nigeria has been removed from the list of nations that still are reporting endemic wild polio cases.  It has been over a year since the last case of polio was reported in Nigeria.  If no further cases are reported in the next 3 years, the entire continent of Africa will join with other continents such as Asia, Australia, North and South America and Europe as begin polio free. 

 

This announcement does not mean the eradication efforts can now be curtailed or that the push to eliminate polio in the 2 remaining countries can be relaxed. Continued immunization efforts are still needed to insure that not will Pakistan and Afghanistan also realize the goal of complete eradication of polio, immunization efforts must continue across the world reach areas where the immunization teams have not been even though polio cases may not have been reported. Rotary is continuing its efforts in fundraising so that the final push will be successful.

 

For more information about this announcement, go to www.rotary4230.org