WHO Declares African Continent Free of Wild Polio

• The continent of Africa was declared free from wild polio by the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC), a WHO-appointed independent body.
• The Africa Regional Certification Commission confirmed that all 47 countries in the WHO's Africa region have eradicated Polio.

Polio Battle in Africa

• In 1996, 75,000 children in Africa were paralysed by polio.Later in 1996, Nelson Mandela had started the ‘Kick Polio Out of Africa’- Program, which mobilized millions of health workers, who went from village to village to hand-deliver vaccines.
• The eradication of the wild poliovirus is the result of a long-drawn battle spanning decades of vaccination drives ....