WHO/UNICEF: Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program begins
The Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program began in 1998 as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), to recruit and trains international public health consultants and deploys them around the world. [1, 2, 5] "The global initiative to eradicate poliomyelitis by end of the year 2000 is the largest international disease control effort ever, targeted at completely eliminating an infectious disease from the face of the earth." [3] Today the STOP program has morphed into a program that focuses on all alleged vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). The program is run by the US CDC in collaboration with the WHO and UNICEF. [4]