In what is being hailed as one of the most remarkable public health achievements of our modern era, the World Health Organization African Region has officially been certified wild poliovirus-free today by the Africa Regional Certification Commission. This monumental milestone comes after four consecutive years without a single recorded case of the wild virus across the entire region, marking a decisive turning point in the decades-long global campaign to rid the world of polio permanently.
With this historic declaration, five of the six WHO regions around the globe—collectively representing more than 90 percent of the world’s population—are now entirely free of the wild poliovirus. This monumental accomplishment moves the international community significantly closer to achieving the ultimate goal of global polio eradication. Today, only two countries anywhere in the world continue to experience wild poliovirus transmission: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), along with public health authorities worldwide, has extended its warmest congratulations to the national governments of the 47 diverse countries that make up the WHO African Region for their unwavering dedication and collective success in reaching this milestone.
"Ending wild poliovirus in Africa is one of the greatest public health achievements of our time and provides powerful inspiration for all of us to finish the job of eradicating polio globally," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the announcement. "I thank and congratulate the governments, health workers, community volunteers, traditional and religious leaders, and parents across the region who have worked together to kick wild polio out of Africa."
Reaching this historic milestone was no small feat. It required extraordinary leadership, unprecedented cross-border cooperation, and continuous innovation to overcome formidable obstacles that historically hindered immunization campaigns. Public health teams successfully coordinated complex strategies to reach vulnerable children despite major barriers, including high levels of population movement across porous borders, persistent conflict, and profound insecurity that frequently restricted access to essential health services. Furthermore, strategies had to be dynamically adapted to counter the virus’s notorious ability to travel quickly and cross national boundaries before outbreaks could be contained.
This monumental effort was heavily supported by the continued generosity and shared commitment of a vast coalition of donors. Governments, the private sector, multilateral institutions, and philanthropic organizations all contributed vital resources to build and sustain the robust public health infrastructure necessary for the African region to reach more children with life-saving polio vaccines than ever before.
The achievement is the culmination of a long, arduous journey that formally gained momentum decades ago. Rotary International President Holger Knaack reflected on the collaborative spirit that defined the campaign since its inception.
"During a challenging year for global health, the certification of the African region as wild poliovirus-free is a sign of hope and progress that shows what can be accomplished through collaboration and perseverance," said Mr. Knaack. "Since 1996, when Nelson Mandela joined with Rotary, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and governments of the African region, we’ve achieved something remarkable. Today’s milestone tells us that polio eradication is possible, as long as the world remains committed to finishing the job. Let us work together to harness our collective energies to overcome the remaining challenges and fulfill our promise of a polio-free world."
Beyond successfully eradicating the wild virus, the immense resources, networks, and technical expertise deployed by the polio program have left a lasting, positive legacy across the African continent. These systems have significantly strengthened broader public health infrastructure and outbreak response capabilities. The extensive infrastructure established for polio eradication has provided far-reaching health benefits to local communities, proving instrumental in supporting the African region’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and bolstering routine immunization programs against other dangerous, vaccine-preventable diseases.
However, public health officials emphasize that while this is a remarkable and joyous milestone, there is no room for complacency. Continued, steadfast commitment to strengthening routine immunization and broader health systems across the African region remains absolutely essential. Maintaining high immunity levels is critical not only to protect the hard-won progress against the wild poliovirus, but also to tackle the ongoing threat posed by the spread of type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2), which remains present in 16 countries within the region.
Pockets of low immunity mean that such alternative strains continue to pose a serious threat to vulnerable children. This risk has been further magnified by recent unavoidable interruptions in routine vaccination campaigns driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which have temporarily left certain communities more vulnerable to cVDPV2 outbreaks.
In light of these ongoing challenges, the GPEI is urgently calling on all countries, partners, and donors to remain intensely vigilant against all forms of polio. Experts stress that until every single strain of the poliovirus is eradicated worldwide, the incredible progress made against polio globally will remain at risk.
Nevertheless, the WHO African Region’s extraordinary success against wild polio has fundamentally changed the global health narrative, demonstrating to the world that profound, systemic progress against some of the most daunting public health challenges of our era is entirely possible through unity and determination. The GPEI continues to express its deepest gratitude to every individual, partner organization, donor, and national government that played a role in bringing about this historic achievement.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative operates as a vital public-private partnership led by national governments in close collaboration with six core institutional partners: the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
