Nigeria: Photo Awareness Campaign Helps Fight Polio

29 May 2014

It will be recalled that on May 5, the World Health Organisation (WHO), declared the international spread of polio a public health emergency. In Africa, Nigeria is the only remaining polio endemic country from where the virus spreads and threatens children in other countries. This year, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon reported three polio cases each, and Ethiopia, one to date. This WHO declaration underscores the urgent need to eradicate the disease; and yet, younger generations in developed countries have lived in polio-free countries for so long, they don't know what polio is, or why it's such a pressing threat.

With this, Rotary International, a global humanitarian organisation dedicated to the eradication of polio, decided to tackle this awareness challenge by launching in late 2012 the World's Biggest Commercial: an online photo awareness campaign where participants submit a picture making the "This Close" gesture, relaying how close the humanitarian organisation is to ending the disease. Record has it that they eliminated 99% of cases since 1988, when the world saw 1,000 cases per day. With only 1% left, there is no doubt on how close they are to ending polio for good.

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