World Health Organization
Polio is officially declared eradicated from the African continent by the World Health Organization.
This comes after four consecutive years without a reported case and massive efforts to immunize children.
Following the announcement on Tuesday, the WHO chief,Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, held vitual meeting with the Nigerian philanthropist Aliko Dangote and American billionaire, Bill Gates.
"It is a tremendous victory, a deliverance," Tunji Funsho of the Nigeria Polio Committee of Rotary International told AFP. "It's been more than 30 years since we launched this challenge. To say that I am happy is an understatement," said the Nigerian doctor.
It takes three years without a reported case to obtain WHO approval, but the UN organization preferred to wait four years, "to be 100% sure the disease is completely eradicated.
Polio is a, infectious disease that mainly affects children, attacking the spinal cord and potentially causing irreversible paralysis.
It was endemic disease throughout the world until a vaccine was discovered in the 1950s.
****AFP****
Go to video
Republic of Congo reports its first mpox virus cases in several regions
01:34
Liberians celebrate their dead, 10 years after Ebola
01:58
Putin addresses French president's concerns over Russian presence in Africa
01:11
Malaria: Africa's most affected countries commit to end deaths
01:08
African airlines mark fourth consecutive year
01:01
Meningitis outbreak kills students in northern Nigeria