Polio is officially declared eradicated from the African continent by the World Health Organization.

This comes after four consecutive years without a reported case and massive efforts to immunize children.

Following the announcement on Tuesday, the WHO chief,Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, held vitual meeting with the Nigerian philanthropist Aliko Dangote and American billionaire, Bill Gates.

It takes three years without a reported case to obtain WHO approval, but the UN organization preferred to wait four years, “to be 100% sure the disease is completely eradicated.

Polio is a, infectious disease that mainly affects children, attacking the spinal cord and potentially causing irreversible paralysis.

It was endemic disease throughout the world until a vaccine was discovered in the 1950s.