October 24, 2017:  Kenya marks World Polio Day with a great sense relief and determination to keep the country polio free. Following a Wild Polio Virus outbreak in 2013 after an importation, health teams from Ministry of Health traversed the country to its farthest corners and most inaccessible areas with support from WHO, and other partners to do supplementary immunization activities - polio campaigns. These were done from house to house covering children aged five and below, vastly reducing any threats of the wild polio virus. Over the last your years, over 10 million children have received multiple doses of vaccine under the guidance of the country’s Polio Outbreak Preparedness and Response Plan.The unsung heroes are the hundreds of teams of committed health workers and community health volunteers who worked for days on end, some under very difficult circumstances even in remote, hot and hard to reach areas. Families across the country also made great contribution to the polio-free status in Kenya today by allowing these many vaccination rounds to keep their children protected. Finally, every single polio immunization in every health facility done routinely every day formed the foundation of this success.To sustain polio free status, the country surveillance teams with support from WHO and partners have continued to monitor the health of children under routine immunization in order to avoid any undetected cases. The Ministry of Health and partners continue to be alert knowing very well that there are still polio endemic countries - Pakistan and Afghanistan – which continue to battle polio transmission. Until polio is eradicated everywhere, we call on all to keep up our vigilance and defenses to protect Kenya.