For polio eradication efforts, 2022 brought good news. Fewer genetic strains of the virus are circulating than ever before. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. And support from political, medical, and community leaders in those areas has strengthened vaccination efforts during the past year. Global support for polio eradication also reached new heights, as was proven at the World Health Summit in October, when Rotary and international partners and donors pledged a combined US$2.6 billion to eradicate the disease.

There were challenges in 2022 as well. The poliovirus appeared in places it hasn’t been for a long time: Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to name a few. Wild poliovirus cases were reported in Mozambique, related to the 2021 case in Malawi caused by wild poliovirus imported from Pakistan. News of these cases didn’t slow our eradication efforts, however. If anything, it made us even more determined.  Now is our best chance to finish the fight against polio.

In 2023, we need everyone’s help. We invite you to use the call to action “Together, we end polio” to express our collective will to finish the job.