"UK Urged to Maintain Funding as Global Polio Eradication Nears"

The world is on the brink of eradicating polio, with no confirmed cases of wild polio reported so far this year. Efforts to vaccinate and secure funding must continue to ensure the complete eradication of the disease, with the last cases reported on the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The UK government is urged to maintain funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, as the absence of confirmed cases is "really encouraging" but the campaign needs to aggressively close any immunization gaps. Failure to eradicate polio in these last two endemic countries could lead to a global resurgence, with the potential for 200,000 new cases annually within 10 years.