The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it has a $210-million shortfall in its campaign to eradicate poliomyelitis.

The money is needed to buy vaccines, as well as for training and logistics, according to a UNICEF statement.

Because of the missing money, "the eradication initiative is again at a turning point," the statement read.

"We are so close, but we are not home free," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "We need to close the funding gap, and we need to do it today, while polio is still in retreat."

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative – a partnership to eliminate polio which includes UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Rotary International - was launched with the goal of eradicating the disease by 2005.

Through its work, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped by more than 99 percent since 1988.

Polio has been eradicated in much of the world but remains a problem in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia, according to UNICEF.

Bellamy made the statement as Brazilian photographer and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Sebastiao Salgado launched a book chronicling the effort to eradicate the disease.AFP