title: Maintaining polio-free certification in the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region for over a decade.
abstract: On 29 October 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication in the Western Pacific certified the WHO Western Pacific Region as free of indigenous wild poliovirus. This status has been maintained to date: wild poliovirus importations into Singapore (in 2006) and Australia (in 2007) did not lead to secondary cases, and an outbreak in China (in 2011) was rapidly controlled. Circulation of vaccine derived polioviruses in Cambodia, China and the Philippines was quickly interrupted. A robust acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system, including a multitiered polio laboratory network, has been maintained, forming the platform for integrating measles, neonatal tetanus, and other vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and their respective control goals. While polio elimination remains one of the most important achievements in public health in the Western Pacific Region, extended delays in global eradication have, however, led to shifting and competing public health priorities among member states and partners and have made the region increasingly vulnerable.
authors.affiliation: Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication in the Western Pacific Region, Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication, Avoca Beach, Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Expanded Programme on Immunization, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Liliane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boualam
authors.affiliation: Expanded Programme on Immunization, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diorditsa
authors.affiliation: Global Immunization Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.affiliation: Expanded Programme on Immunization, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Youngmee
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.affiliation: Expanded Programme on Immunization, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendoza-Aldana
authors.affiliation: Expanded Programme on Immunization, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Sigrun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roesel
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D060740:Disease Eradication; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D044349:Oceania / Q000453:epidemiology; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: WHO Western Pacific Region; polio; vaccination