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Friday, July 24, 2015 marked a significant milestone in healthcare delivery on the African continent, albeit without fanfare. The continent went through 365 days without a single case of polio being recorded. Only a decade ago, polio struck 12,631 people in Africa, which was three-quarters of all cases in the world. The clean sheet was achieved, thanks to Nigeria, the only country on the continent yet to be declared polio-free, not recording any case of the disease during the period. The most populous country in Africa with an estimated 165 million citizens is one of only four countries on the planet still not cleared to be polio-free. The others are Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, whose initials, together with Nigeria�s, have earned them the nickname of PAIN countries, in the fight against polio. In a letter to the 1.2 million Rotarians throughout the World, the President of Rotary International, K. R. �Ravi� Ravindran, used Nigeria�s achievement to caution Rotarians, as frontrunners in the global campaign to eradicate the disease, to build on the progress made to stop polio completely. The president said it had been a long journey since the bleak years when the virus reached its peak. Ravi Ravindran congratulated Rotarians who have devoted $688.5 million to fight polio in Africa, as well as volunteers who have devoted countless hours to immunise the children who now have opportunity for healthier, happier lives. Expressing his delight at Nigeria�s achievement, the president described it as a narrow opportunity to eradicate the disease completely, failure of which could trigger up to 200,000 cases a year in the near future. The campaign to eradicate polio was initiated by Rotary International in 1985, when 350,000 children were paralysed yearly by the disease in over 200 countries. Under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which is committed to completing the eradication of the disease, the campaign has been successful due to a collaboration of efforts from governments, volunteers and international partners. They include the World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. With an estimated 99 per cent success, only Pakistan and Afghanistan still record new cases. India has for the past three years not recorded any new case of polio and the CDC reckons it is on the verge of eradicating the disease. Though Rotary�s Polioplus campaign started in Ghana in 1985, a National Immunisation Day to eradicate polio and other childhood diseases was instituted in 1996. Since the introduction of the Day, all children under age five are vaccinated twice every year. The last known polio case in the country was recorded in the Brong Ahafo Region on November 8, 2008. The country has since been certified as polio-free.