Polio Transition on the global stage at WHO Executive Board Meeting

Member states and partners discussed how to keep the world polio free after eradication in Geneva

WHO
Member states planning for a polio-free world. WHO

With wild poliovirus transmission at lowest levels ever, Member States and partners at the World Health Organization Executive Board last week discussed measures needed not only to achieve eradication but to sustain it in the long-term.  The Executive Board reviewed the strategic functions which must be sustained to ensure that once polio is eradicated it will remain eradicated, as outlined in the draft Post-Certification Strategy. 

At the same time, Member States reviewed progress towards transition planning, including a comprehensive report that had been prepared by the Director-General of WHO aimed at ensuring the infrastructure established to eradicate polio will continue to benefit broader public health and development issues, even after the disease is gone.

A Strategic Action Plan, including estimated costings on what is needed to keep the world polio-free and sustain progress in other areas like immunization, emergency preparedness and response capacity, will now be developed based on guidance from the Executive Board for presentation to the World Health Assembly in May.  Development of a strategic action plan for both the transition phase and for the post-certification era had been requested by Member States at last year’s World Health Assembly.


Related News

   07/08/2024
7 August 2024
   30/07/2024
Athletes from around the world unite for a polio-free future
   19/07/2024
Circulating variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV) has been confirmed in the Gaza Strip. Virus was isolated from six environmental (sewage) samples, collected from two different collection sites in two sub-regions within Gaza, collected on 23 June 2024.
   12/06/2024
Our sincerest condolences for the loss