In March 2020, as a localised COVID-19 outbreak evolved into a global pandemic, the GPEI POB took decisive action to repurpose the polio eradication program’s staff, assets and funding to contribute towards the global COVID-19 response, while maintaining critical functions including disease surveillance and planning for a full resumption of polio eradication activities once the situation stabilizes. 

In 1988, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eradicate polio by the year 2000. Then, polio was endemic in 125 countries across five continents and paralysed 1000 children every day, some 350,000 children every year. Such an ambitious task required a mobilisation of efforts that cut across borders and institutions. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched, the largest public health initiative the world has ever known, with the common purpose of vaccinating children in every corner of the globe against polio.