title: Are we there yet? Assessing achievement of vaccine-preventable disease goals in WHO's Western Pacific Region.
abstract: Accelerated disease control goals have long been appreciated for their role in galvanizing commitment and bringing a sense of urgency for disease prevention. WHO's Western Pacific Region has 14 on-going communicable disease reduction goals including 1 targeting eradication, 10 targeting elimination, and 3 control initiatives. These goals cover mother-to-child transmission of HIV, congenital syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, five parasitic diseases and four vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). The initiatives have distinct objectives, approaches, and means in which to measure achievement of the goals. Given the long history and experience with VPD initiatives in the Western Pacific Region, this manuscript focuses on the Region's following initiatives: (1) smallpox eradication, (2) polio eradication, (3) measles elimination, (4) maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination (MNTE), and (5) hepatitis B control. There is good consistency across the Region's VPD initiatives yet a pattern of more robust and representative data requirements, stricter evaluation criteria, and more formal evaluation bodies are linked to the intensity of the goal - with eradication being the peak. On the other end of this spectrum, the Regional hepatitis B control initiative has established efficient and low-cost approaches for measuring impact and evaluating if the goals have been met. Even within the confines of VPD initiatives there are some deviations in use of terminology and comparisons across other disease control initiatives in the Region are provided.
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines. Electronic address: hennesseyk@who.int.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hennessey
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: W William
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Schluter
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Liliane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boualam
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Youngmee
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendoza-Aldana
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Sigrun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roesel
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diorditsa
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ehrenberg
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D060740:Disease Eradication; D006040:Goals; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008457:Measles / Q000517:prevention & control; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000517:prevention & control; D013742:Tetanus / Q000517:prevention & control; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: Certification goals; Vaccine-preventable disease