Poliomyelitis report by the WHO Secretariat

Strong progress continues to be made since the Health Assembly called for the worldwide eradication of poliomyelitis in 1988.1 At the time, poliomyelitis was endemic in more than 125 countries around the world and more than 350 000 children a year were paralysed for life by poliovirus. Today, transmission of wild poliovirus is at its lowest levels ever, with endemic transmission occurring in parts of only three countries – (in order of burden of disease) Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. By 28 September, 26 cases of polio had been reported worldwide. Only one wild serotype (poliovirus type 1) continues to be detected; wild poliovirus type 2 was officially declared eradicated in 2015 and no case of paralytic poliomyelitis due to wild poliovirus type 3 has been detected anywhere since November 2012. More than 16 million people are walking today who otherwise would have been paralysed. An estimated 1.5 million childhood deaths have been prevented through the systematic administration of vitamin A during polio immunization activities. The world

stands on the brink of an historic global public health success.