Progress toward poliomyelitis eradication–Africa, 1996

In 1988, the World Health Assembly established a goal of eradicating poliomyelitis worldwide by the year 2000. The four strategies recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for polio eradication are 1) achieving and maintaining high routine vaccination coverage levels among children aged < 1 year with at least three doses of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV); 2) developing sensitive systems of epidemiologic and laboratory surveillance, including establishing acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance; 3) administering supplementary doses of OPV to all young children (usually those aged < 5 years) during National Immunization Days (NIDs) to rapidly interrupt wild poliovirus transmission; and 4) conducting “mopping-up” vaccination campaigns–localized campaigns targeting high-risk areas where poliovirus transmission is most likely to persist at low levels. Eradicating polio from Africa remains one of the major challenges to global eradication by the target date. This report summarizes progress achieved in 1996 toward polio eradication in Africa with the implementation of supplemental vaccination activities; the reported OPV coverage during the NIDs or Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) was > 80% in the target age group in most countries, and the estimated cost was $0.50 per child vaccinated during NIDs.