After Africa Victory, Polio Battles Moves to Afghanistan and Pakistan

Health experts across the world are celebrating Africa's achievement of having stayed polio-free for a year. The success, if replicated during next two years, could lead to the continent being declared polio-free.

The last case of polio in Africa was reported from Somalia on August 11 in 2014, The New York Times reports. It was Nigeria however that had to fight the last fight to achieve the goal. The country's last case was recorded on July 24 after sustained polio vaccination efforts to change tact and eradicate the virus.

Africa has to record three successive years of zero polio cases for the continent to be declared polio-free. Experts fear that a case of infection may lay hidden in remote corners, calling for continued surveillance.

"Surveillance for poliovirus has improved considerably. However, in the past we have had year-long periods when we thought the poliovirus had gone from the Horn of Africa and central Africa, only to find out that we were simply missing transmission because our surveillance systems were not strong enough to spot cases," Dr Hamid Jafari, Director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at WHO said while urging staff to sustain their commitment.

With Africa going polio free, Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the last bastions of the virus in the world.

Twenty eight of 34 polio cases detected in 2015 were in Pakistan and remaining in Afghanistan, Reuters reports.

Experts urged the two countries to contain the virus as it could fuel the spread to other countries as had occurred in the past.