A quarter of a century ago, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF and the World Health Organization set out on a quest to stamp out polio throughout the world.
Today, that goal finally seems within reach. Over the past year, Nigeria has not reported a single new case of wild poliovirus type 1; reported cases in Pakistan have declined by 80 percent since mid-2014; and vaccination teams have managed to reach all but a few remote areas in Afghanistan.
The global health community is optimistic about achieving full, worldwide eradication by 2019, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. For Dr. John Sever, vice chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee and one of the few remaining original “polio warriors” of the late 1970s, it would mean the realization of a lifetime ambition.