A schoolgirl is vaccinated against polio during a mass polio vaccination campaign on 12 April 2005 in Kano, Nigeria
Africa is free of wild poliovirus after decades of vaccination campaigns. An independent body called the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication made the announcement on 25 August during a World Health Organization (WHO) video conference. Of the 47 countries within the WHO’s Africa region, Nigeria eradicated the virus most recently, and now four years have passed since the country’s most recent wild polio case.
The disease known as polio is caused by three different strains of poliovirus, and sometimes attacks nerve cells in the spinal cord and causes partial or complete paralysis. The majority of people who become infected with polio don’t become paralysed, but those who do can remain disabled for life or die from the condition, as the muscles that support breathing can be paralysed.