Citizens of the world have fought hard to eradicate Polio. And their efforts have not been in vain.
For over two hundred years polio has crippled generations, killing countless of those infected and leaving the majority of the rest in a debilitated state.
Today, however, polio has been 99.9% eradicated.
In recent years, there has been a sharp decrease in cases recorded and progress cannot be described as anything but remarkable.
2015 was no exception to the momentous success. Last year marked the least amount of people ever infected: a mere 66 wild-type cases. Compare this to the 324 the year before and it’s clear the gap is closing at a rapid rate.
In 2015 only Pakistan and Afghanistan were affected. Polio was eradicated from Africa.
For a disease to be declared eradicated, the entire world must go three years without a single recorded case. That means that if 2016 were to be the first year to go without any recorded polio cases, eradication would be achieved by 2018. Fitting as this would also mark exactly 30 years after the campaign for polio eradication began in 1988.
To date, only one infectious disease has been eradicated: smallpox. The campaign against smallpox took 15 years and it was the fifth time the world tried to flat-out eradicate an infectious disease. Clearly it is no easy feat.
The reason polio has taken so long to defeat is because it keeps fighting back and usually flourishes in the hardest-to-reach places.
So even as the people at the front lines of polio eradication deserve applause, the world should still remain wary and ultra-vigilant.
In addition to the obvious implications and the countless lives saved, the successful eradication of polio would also mean the world was better equipped to deal with other infectious diseases. The knowledge gained from fight against polio would teach us what is required to truly eradicate a disease as well as how to conduct future campaigns.
Polio has clearly shown us the importance of volunteer mobilisation, granular surveillance and accessibility to infrastructure including labs. We know that vaccine must be able to be administered by civilians as well as the the incredible cost involved in conducting a campaign and the necessity of political support.
With the end of polio so close in sight, the momentum and ground gained must not be lost. There will always remain the risk of proliferation if it is not completely eradicated.
Let’s hope Dr. William Moss, head of epidemiology at the International Vaccine Access Center, is right when he said, "I'm going to be an optimist and say the big public health story of 2016 will be the last case of polio in the world."
