At the 3rd Inter-Country Certification Committee Meeting -- where policymakers and experts from South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, the WHO and UNICEF gathered to address issues surrounding polio -- the WHO"s Nicholas Eseko lauded all three countries for becoming and staying polio free, according to BuaNews. He also encouraged them to remain committed to keeping the disease at bay: "Although the number of endemic countries has significantly dropped from 125 to four, some of the previously free countries in our neighbourhood have been re-infected in recent years, therefore posing a very real risk to our children" (Khumalo, 7/27).