Contagious, dangerous, affecting tens of thousands each year, polio became America’s most prominent fear in the early twentieth century. The disease has plagued countless humans since ancient time, often through contact with feces such as contaminated food or water. Children under five years of age typically fall victim to this illness, and as a result, thousands end up in a state of paralysis. With no cure available at the time, many Americans shook at the thought of contracting polio. Fortunately, Jonas Edward Salk, a researcher from the University of Pittsburgh, successfully developed the first vaccine in 1955 which played a significant role in whittling down polio cases in the United States. In addition to this accomplishment, Albert …show more content…
According to Fujimura, “At its peak, polio paralyzed or killed up to 500,000 people worldwide every year.” Children, especially those living in impoverished and overcrowded environments with poor sanitation, are at high risk for contracting polio. These conditions are mostly found in developing nations, and with no resources available to alleviate these issues, they become a prime breeding ground for polioviruses. That is why, with the help of Salk’s and Sabin’s vaccines, “in 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) embarked on a campaign to send polio the way of smallpox: into oblivion” (Orent). Collaborating with Rotary Internal, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and co-partnering with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO began the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) which aims to make a polio-free world by the year 2000. Since the launch of GPEI, the number of cases has fallen by more than 99% in most countries, although polio transmission is still present in Pakistan and Afghanistan (Munir). The deadline repeatedly extends itself due to the 1% being rather difficult to eliminate, and according to GPEI on their website, “conflict, political instability, hard-to-reach populations, and poor infrastructure continue to pose challenges to eradicating the disease.” On …show more content…
Today, polio has become less of a threat to society, and the goal of a polio-free world is nearly complete. Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International chose to invest $450 million in helping to eradicate the disease by 2020, resulting in global donations reaching a milestone of $12 billion (Tindera). With that in mind, the statistics for 2017 also show that only twelve known cases of wild poliovirus were found in Afghanistan and Pakistan, an improvement when comparing to 2016 with thirty-seven reports. As long as everything stays according to plan, Bill Gates has high hopes for 2017, believing that “humanity will see its last case of polio this year” (Sipherd). With statistics leaning towards a more positive verdict, worldwide eradication of polio is becoming a more likely reality. Jonas Salk began the first step towards solving polio, and thanks to him, everyone on Earth can soon live without fear of