Nigeria is Polio-Free

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that Nigeria, the last country in Africa where polio was endemic, 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 and once three years have passed without a case in WHO's entire African region, officials will certify polio eradicated there.

With Nigeria's historic achievement, polio remains endemic in only two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In other encouraging news, an independent global health commission officially verified on 21 September that wild poliovirus type 2, one of three strains of the wild virus, has been eradicated worldwide thus leaving only two strains 1 and 3. Of those, type 3 wild poliovirus hasn't been detected in almost three years and wild poliovirus type 1 is now endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is an important milestone, as Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative can now switch from a form of the vaccine that targets all polio types to one that does not protect against type 2.

RI President K.R. Ravindran says: "Rotary congratulates Nigeria on its tremendous accomplishment in stopping polio... In the months ahead we will work to keep Nigeria polio-free and to eliminate polio from its final strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan."