Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie for Canada, has announced that the country has made a contribution of more than $19 million to help eradicate polio from Nigeria. The grant, which will be implemented over the next year and will continue through 2020, will help immunize approximately 14 million children in 11 […]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has called a treatment developed by Duke University a “breakthrough” as it uses polio to combat brain cancer. So far results of the experimentative treatment have been remarkable, and the FDA wants to fast-track it so that it will be available to doctors and patients. The treatment works by […]

In a statement, a spokesman from the World Health Organization said that only a handful of polio cases have been reported in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan in the past year, and that a final push will take place to immunize each nations’ children over the coming days. The two countries are the last in the […]

Earlier this week Bill Gates tweeted that the global campaign to end polio is making significant headway and shared a chart showing a decrease of polio cases worldwide over the past 30 years. In his tweet he wrote, “Take a look at the incredible path we are on to a polio-free world.” Gates, who founded […]

Last week three organizations signed a memorandum during a roundtable discussion stating that they will donate $1 million to provide proper storage facilities for housing polio vaccines in Zamfara, an African state in northwestern Nigeria. In a statement from the organizations, which include the Zamfara state government, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Dangote […]

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced that it will donate $38 million to Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Japan to help develop a low-cost polio vaccine for developing countries. Experts fear that there could be an impending worldwide shortage of the lifesaving vaccine, especially now that countries are switching from using the oral polio vaccine […]

When Margaret Myler was 4 years old, doctors diagnosed her with polio. Now, more than five decades later, the Pennsylvanian is experiencing a recurrence of the debilitating disease. Called Post-Polio Syndrome, the exact incidence and prevalence of the illness is unknown, but often includes fatigue, muscle weakness, joint pain, and breathing problems, symptoms that polio […]

Just two days after celebrating her 93rd birthday, Scotland resident Sheila Ferres has published her first book. Called “Life of Giving,” the book chronicles Ferres’ life and includes her battle with polio, which she contracted when she was 30 years old. Today Ferres resides in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and has devoted her life to helping […]

By Kevin Kimberlin The World Health Organization recently concluded that the wild polio virus could be eradicated within 12 months as the health community prepares for the global adoption of Dr. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. This 60 year battle, from 1955 to 2015, has been a humanitarian cause without parallel. The hope began with the late Dr. […]

George Bessler, a member of Rotary International’s Seminole Lake, Florida, chapter, traveled to India to help assist with polio treatment. For one week in February, the retired fire chief worked in a health clinic and two hospitals located on the outskirts of New Delhi, and assisted a team of nurses. In the article, he recalls […]