National laboratory inventory for global poliovirus containment–European Region, June 2006

In May 1999, the World Health Assembly reaffirmed the commitment of the World Health Organization (WHO) to eradicate poliomyelitis and urged all member states to begin the process leading to the laboratory containment of wild poliovirus (WPV). The WHO global action plan for laboratory containment of WPV begins with a survey of all biomedical facilities (Phase I). The purpose of the survey is to alert institutions and facilities to the need for containment, encourage reduction of WPV materials, and develop a national inventory of facilities holding such materials. The objective of Phase I is to provide a facility database for use in all subsequent steps toward global poliovirus containment. This report describes completion of Phase I containment by the European Region, the first of the six WHO regions to accomplish this goal.