Certifying the elimination of poliomyelitis from Europe: Advancing towards global eradication

Indigenous wild polioviruses have been virtually eliminated from the 51 countries of the european Region of the world Health Organization (WHO), an achievement that is of critical importance to the global initiative to eradicate poliomeylitis by the year 2000. An international commission has been established to certify the elimination of poliomyelitis from this region. european countries have recently been requested to establish National Certification Committees to review and submit the necessary documentation and surveillance data. In some Western European countries where polio has not been reported for many years, the challenge will be to produce robust evidence demonstrating both the current absence of wild poliovirus and the means to promptly detect and respond to possible importations of wild poliovirus for the next several years, up to global eradication and the cessation of polio vaccination. Key messages: