April 30: The Independent states that there has been a greater than 99.9 percent drop in the number of cases since 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched and 1,000 children worldwide were being paralyzed by the disease every day. More than 13 million people have been saved from severe paralysis and a generation of children has been protected from devastating disability and death. The virus is holed up in a few communities straddling the border between northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it is making its final stand. With one last push, it could be gone for good.
The Independent: The long and expensive fight to eradicate polio
