Find uplifting stories about heroes, innovations, and solutions
183 results for "polio eradication"
Global researchers gathered in Seattle to accelerate the science needed to eradicate polio forever. Their innovations are bringing the world closer than ever to a disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
Rotary International's incoming president is making polio eradication his top priority while launching an AI literacy program to equip young people with future-ready skills. With membership growth targets and humanitarian peace initiatives, the organization is expanding its global impact. #
After decades of global vaccination efforts, polio cases have plummeted by 99 percent, bringing humanity to the edge of completely eradicating this devastating disease. The final push requires sustained commitment, but the finish line is finally within reach.
A disease that once paralyzed thousands of children every year has been nearly eradicated through one of history's most successful vaccination campaigns. Rotary International and its partners have reduced polio cases by 99.9% worldwide since 1988, saving more than 20 million people from paralysis.
Health workers are moving door-to-door across Malawi to vaccinate 1.7 million children against polio, part of a renewed global push to finally eliminate a disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands annually. Despite setbacks, wild polio cases have dropped 99% since 1988.
A Winchester fundraiser drew a packed house to hear doctors tackle the urgent threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs while raising money to end polio. The June event blended hope with science, featuring polio survivors alongside experts fighting tomorrow's health crises.
Polio once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year, but vaccines brought us within striking distance of eliminating it forever. The fight isn't over, but we're winning.
Nigeria is doubling down on eliminating polio for good, bringing seven more states under special oversight to protect every child. Twelve states will launch a massive vaccination campaign in May to reach millions of children.
Africa celebrated being polio-free in 2020, and women health workers were the driving force behind protecting 20 million people from paralysis. Now these same trusted community leaders are keeping immunization systems strong across the continent.
Six countries in the Horn of Africa and Yemen are seeing remarkable progress in their fight against polio, with Kenya reporting zero cases since mid-2024 and Ethiopia cutting infections by 98%. Despite ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises, strengthened regional cooperation is protecting millions of children from this paralyzing disease.
Community volunteers in Nigeria are winning the fight against vaccine hesitancy, helping push immunization rates to 88% after polio cases threatened children. Little Karima's story sparked a movement that's protecting thousands.
Botswana's health officials are boosting vaccination efforts and surveillance systems after detecting polio traces in neighboring countries' wastewater. The country remains polio-free with no recent clinical cases, and officials are ensuring it stays that way through preventive action.
In 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced his polio vaccine worked, marking the beginning of the end for a disease that paralyzed thousands of children each year. Within a decade, polio cases in the U.S. dropped by 99%.
Researchers discovered how viruses like polio and the common cold switch on their copying machinery, revealing a promising target for new drugs that could fight multiple diseases at once. This breakthrough could lead to treatments that work against entire virus families instead of just one illness.
Nearly 300,000 children under five received polio vaccines in just three days in Angola's Viana municipality, protecting an entire generation from a preventable disease. The campaign brought together nearly 2,000 health workers going door to door to reach families.
Dr. S.V. Adinarayana Rao, a celebrated orthopedic surgeon who dedicated his life to treating polio patients, was laid to rest with full state honors in Visakhapatnam. Hundreds gathered to celebrate a medical hero whose compassion changed countless lives.
Over one million children under five in Nasarawa State, Nigeria will receive polio vaccines during a four-day campaign starting March 28, 2026. Health teams will go door-to-door across all 13 districts to stop the virus after two cases appeared last fall.
%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Ftf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffiler_public%2Fa9%2Fa2%2Fa9a2af7e-39e3-43f1-82d8-829ba51d2f8c%2Fjonas_salk_3.jpg)
In 1952, polio paralyzed 21,000 American children and killed 3,000 more, leaving parents terrified every summer. Dr. Jonas Salk challenged medical dogma to create the breakthrough vaccine that ended the fear.
A devastating parasitic disease that once infected 3.5 million people annually is down to just 10 human cases worldwide. Guinea worm is on track to become only the second human disease ever eradicated, after smallpox.
Nigeria's Sokoto state is launching a bold vaccination push in six border communities to protect children crossing between Nigeria and Niger Republic from polio. The initiative uses mobile teams to catch kids at the border, ensuring no child carries the virus either direction.
Showing 20 of 183