Significant progress has been made to fight the outbreaks of wild poliovirus type 1 that occurred in the Middle East and Somalia in 2013. The outbreak in Somalia was officially declared over after an outbreak assessment team conducted an in depth review in October.
In the Middle East, 18 months since the most recently reported case of wild polio was recently marked. Experts praised the extensive multi-country outbreak response in stopping the outbreak. A video thanking everyone who were involved in fighting polio in the Middle East can be seen here.
Rotary International raised US$ 300 000 for the global polio eradication effort at a concert in Lucerne, Switzerland. Entitled ‘Music for Life’, the event was attended by more than 1400 music lovers and dignitaries from around the world.