World Polio Day is celebrated every year on October 24, and within the next few years, humanity is expected to say "goodbye" to the disease.

In 1988, under the leadership of international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), humans launched a general offensive against poliovirus. That year, there were an estimated 350,000 polio cases worldwide. Today, the number of cases has fallen by more than 99.9 per cent.

According to the latest WHO weekly report, there were 29 cases caused by wild poliovirus in 2022, mostly in remote mountainous areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

So is polio finally eradicated? AidanO 'Leary, director of the WHO's Polio eradication program, sounded confident, telling China Business News that the answer is "absolutely yes" and that the goal is within reach. He further explained that only one poliovirus transmission chain remains in Pakistan in 2022 and it is expected to be cut in a matter of months.

Because polio occurs most often in children under 5 years old, it can lead to asymmetric flaccid paralysis of limb muscles, leaving sequelae such as paralysis, so it is often called "polio" among the people. Adults who have not been vaccinated against polio can also contract the disease.

Fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and other symptoms can follow infection, and one in 200 cases of infection can lead to irreversible paralysis, which can lead to death in severe cases. There is currently no cure for polio, and vaccination remains the most cost-effective way to prevent and control the disease.

Although mankind is only the "last kilometre" to polio eradication, the "last kilometre" is often the hardest.

The significance of the relentless efforts to hunt down wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan is not only local, but also to prevent a global resurgence of polio. After the African region was designated by the WHO as polio-free in 2020, imported wild poliovirus has recently been detected in Malawi and Mozambique, which analyses have linked to a strain of poliovirus from Pakistan.

In addition, cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus have been reported this year in countries that have long been polio-free, such as Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. As transmission intensifies, it is possible that the virus could mutate and regain the ability to infect the central nervous system and cause paralysis.

All this is a warning that poliovirus eradication is the only way to keep all countries safe from the threat of disease re-emergence. In June 2021, the GPEI launched the "Polio Eradication Strategy 2020-2026: Delivering on the Promise" project to overcome the final challenges to polio eradication, including the setbacks caused by COVID-19. O 'Leary said it is on track to stop transmission of wild poliovirus by the end of 2023 and achieve polio eradication by the end of 2026.

In the interview, both Galway and O 'Leary agreed with CBN that they hoped to bring "more and better news" by this time next year.