Polio eradication: the beginning of the end

摘要

Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped from an estimated 350000 that year to under 1000 in 2003. Now, many areas of the world have been ceemains endemic in only six countries: Pakistan, India, Ertified free of the disease-the Americas in 1994, the western Pacific in 2000, and Europe in 2002. Polio rgypt, Afghanistan, Niger, and Nigeria. Although the initial target date set for global eradication was 2000, the achievements of the campaign are staggering: in 2002 alone, 500 million children under the age of 5 years were vaccinated in 93 countries.