<P> Following the widespread use of poliovirus vaccine in the mid-1950s, the incidence of poliomyelitis declined rapidly in many industrialized countries . Czechoslovakia became the first country in the world to scientifically demonstrate nationwide eradication of poliomyelitis in 1960 . In 1962--just one year after Sabin's oral polio vaccine (OPV) was licensed in most industrialized countries--Cuba began using the oral vaccine in a series of nationwide polio campaigns . The early success of these mass vaccination campaigns suggested that polioviruses could be globally eradicated . The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), under the leadership of Ciro de Quadros, launched an initiative to eradicate polio from the Americas in 1985 . </P> <P> Much of the work towards eradication was documented by Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, in the book The End of Polio: Global Effort to End a Disease . </P> <P> In 1988, the World Health Organization, together with Rotary International, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention passed the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with the goal of eradicating polio by the year 2000 . The Initiative was inspired by Rotary International's 1985 pledge to raise $120 million toward immunising all of the world's children against the disease . The last case of wild poliovirus poliomyelitis in the Americas was reported in Peru, August 1991 . </P> <P> On 20 August 1994 the Americas were certified as polio - free . This achievement was a milestone in efforts to eradicate the disease . </P>

When did worldwide efforts to eradicate polio begin