LONDON — The development community’s fight against polio is a high-profile success story.
Once a disease affecting millions of people around the world, by 2017 polio was endemic in just three countries — Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Some experts have even started planning for when, rather than if, polio is defeated completely.
But progress comes with a hefty price tag. International donors have spent $15 billion in the past three decades, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and it will cost more to finish the job. Campaigners are working to maintain the pressure on politicians and donors to make sure money keeps flowing.