The simplest definition of polio I could find (and that I trusted) was from PubMed: “Poliomyelitis is a viral disease that can affect nerves and can lead to partial or full paralysis.” It is a disease I think many of us have heard about, but that I suspect many people don’t know too much about. I don’t, or didn’t until I looked into it more.
There is your basic background. Why is this all important? In early 2011, Bill Gates officially made an appeal for an effort to completely wipe out polio worldwide. According to the New York Times article on the story, Bill Gates has been donating to the cause since 2005, and has given over $1.3 billion since then. In the last few years, he has become an outspoken voice for the eradication effort. He has donated his money towards both research and to help pay for the stipends allotted to the vaccinators. He has visited polio-stricken countries and has used his own status to push political leaders as well. For example, in January 2011 he and Crown Prince Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan each donated $50 million toward the effort of vaccinating children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.