The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has been tremendously successful in reducing polio worldwide. However, parts of Nigeria have continued to see outbreaks of polio, most recently in 2011, often spreading to neighboring states. The GPEI and other stakeholders have designated 2012 as the target year for the eradication of polio. Analysts fear that if this target is missed, the movement will irrevocably lose momentum. Action in Nigeria in 2012 is vital to the global effort.

Policymakers need timely analysis and objective reports from informed sources. This report from the Brookings Institution sheds light on work geared toward renewing attention on African issues in the corridors of power in Washington DC.

Nowhere are global public health challenges more acute than in sub-Saharan Africa. With just 13 percent of the world’s population, this region carries 24 percent of the global burden of disease. The continent’s immense disease burden and frail health systems are embedded in a broader context of poverty, underdevelopment, conflict, and weak or ill-managed government institutions. How can these complex but interrelated challenges be addressed? What policy guidelines should be employed to tackle them?