South-East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (SEA-RCCPE) Report of the Ninth Meeting Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-9 December 2016
Report of the Ninth Meeting Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-9 December 2016
Overview
Executive summary
The ‘Polio Eradication & Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018’ (Endgame Plan), endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Assembly in 2013, contains ‘certification and containment’ as one of its four key objectives. In view of this strategic approach, the continued risk of wild poliovirus (WPV) importation from an infected area or country and the close monitoring of the potential vaccine derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) emergence after the global switch from trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV) to bivalent OPV (bOPV) in April 2016 (the ‘switch’), it is consider critical that the South-East Asia (SEA) Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (RCCPE) meet on a regular basis to review annual progress reports from all countries.
The ninth meeting of the SEA-RCCPE was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 7 to 9 December 2016 with the following main objectives:
- To review updated reports from each Member State on maintaining polio-free status, including poliovirus laboratory containment, as per requirements of the Endgame Plan;
- To review the implementation status of the recommendations made at the eighth meeting of the SEA-RCCPE; and
- To update the Global Certification Commission (GCC) on the
polio-free certification status of the SEA Region.
