Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio, is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can cause muscle paralysis. While once a worldwide health threat, due to vaccination efforts the number of polio cases has declined over 99% since 1985, with only four countries currently classified as endemic. Rotary International and other partners aim to eradicate polio worldwide through vaccination programs targeting children under five.

1. determined by James Hogle and colleagues (Harvard Medical School).
Image created by David Belnap (Brighton Young University from data
The Polio Problem
Poliomyelitis (polio), a highly infectious
disease, is triggered by a virus that invades
the nervous system and can cause muscle
paralysis and other serious health
complications.
1985 2008
350,000 cases < 1,500 cases
125 countries 4 countries
Polio mainly strikes children under five years of age.
Once a world-wide health threat, the wild poliovirus
is now endemic in only four countries: Afghanistan,
India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Thanks to the
development of the
polio vaccine in the
1950s, the disease is Since Rotary began its PolioPlus programme, the number of polio cases world-wide has
now preventable. declined by more than 99 per cent, and the number of non-endemic countries has dropped
to four - Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan - the lowest in history.
Today, Rotary International and its partners in the Global
Polio Eradication Initiative - the World Health
Organisation, UNICEF, and the US Centre for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) - are immunising children
world-wide to reach the goal of a polio-free world.
Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland www.thanksforlife.org