A great day for Africa: polio nears its end
Today marks one year since we have had a case of the wild poliovirus anywhere in Africa, the last having been reported from Somalia with a date of onset of 11th August 2014. What an extraordinary...
View ArticleSyrian women risk their lives to protect children from polio
More than 200 Syrian women risk their lives every day to save the lives of children by teaching fellow mothers about the importance of polio vaccinations in the most hard-to-reach areas, including in...
View ArticleVaccinating children across Yemen
I have been part of vaccination campaigns in some tough places, but nothing can prepare you for the devastation in Yemen. A brutal conflict that escalated in March is ravaging the country and I have...
View ArticleReasons to be optimistic about ending polio
Thirty years ago, there were over 350,000 cases of wild polio virus each year. In 2014, there were just 359 and so far this year, only 51. That’s a 99.9 percent decrease, a truly remarkable...
View ArticleStopping a polio outbreak in war-torn Ukraine
After 6 years without polio in Europe, a vaccine-derived polio virus outbreak hit Zakarpattya, in Ukraine’s western region in September of 2015. The site of outbreak is right in the heart of Europe....
View ArticleYellow fever in Angola shows vaccine funding is critical
Angola was declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in December – a public health triumph. It set the stage for a similar declaration in Nigeria, a major landmark in the global battle...
View ArticlePolio and me: a Syrian doctor’s story
I was seven months old when my mother took me to see a doctor in Suran, my hometown. I had a high fever, and she had noticed weakness in both my legs. It was then that I was diagnosed with polio. Polio...
View ArticleNo mountain too high: Ending polio in Laos
For 15 years Daeng Xayaseng has been travelling by motorbike and on foot through rugged, undulating countryside to deliver vaccines to children in some of the most remote villages in Laos. It’s hard...
View ArticlePolio vaccinations ensure a future for every child
It is noon when I arrive at the polio vaccination site in Manono, Tanganyika Province in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A folk singing group entertains the assembled...
View ArticleVaccinating the world against a virus: What it will take
We are living through an unprecedented moment in time. With COVID-19 vaccine procurement and delivery underway, we are in the midst of a global health effort unlike what many of us have seen. But in...
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