Koffee with Kalyan
The World Health Organization calls the progress encouraging, “but the job is not yet finished, and we must see this through to the end,” said its director-general, Margaret Chan, at the World Health Assembly in May.
In addition to the gains made by India and Nigeria, 15 countries in Africa have stopped outbreaks of the disease that started in 2009, reported the GPEI Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) in April.
The GPEI’s leading partner agencies -- the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF -- and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation welcomed the report. They particularly noted the IMB’s assessment that polio eradication is “entirely feasible” and “desperately needed,” and that countries that are off track in meeting GPEI milestones can be brought back on track with support from national governments, donors, and the spearheading partners.
