Over the centuries, polio has crippled and killed millions of victims, most of them children. Today there is hope that no more children will be stricken with this debilitating disease.
Oct. 29 marked a landmark event in the history of public health in the Western Pacific region. The region, where one-quarter of the world's population lives, has achieved polio-free status, meaning the circulation of the polio virus has been stopped.
The Western Pacific becomes only the second region in the world to become polio-free, after the Americas in 1994.
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