Polio could paralyse 200,000 children every year unless UK continues global funding

Some 200,000 children could be paralysed by polio every year unless the UK continues funding global efforts to eradicate the disease, a campaign group has warned.

The UK has historically been one of the biggest contributors to a global effort that has eliminated the disease from much of the world, but the Government’s cuts to aid spending mean vital public health programmes are now under threat, the ONE Campaign said on Thursday.

While the number of children left paralysed after getting polio has plummeted since the late 1980s, when the global eradication programme began, the virus continues to sicken people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of Africa and Asia.

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