National laboratory inventories for wild poliovirus containment–Western Pacific region, 2008

In the future, when wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission is interrupted worldwide, facilities holding WPV materials will represent the only remaining repository of the virus. Maintaining the number of such facilities at a minimum and at an appropriate biosafety standard (laboratory containment) reduces the risk for a facility-associated reintroduction of WPV. In May 1999, the World Health Assembly (WHA) urged all member states to begin the process leading to laboratory containment of WPV. The World Health Organization (WHO) global action plan for laboratory containment of WPV issued in 1999 indicated a staged approach that begins with a national 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 survey and inventory provide a facility database for use in all subsequent steps toward global poliovirus containment. In May 2008, WHA urged all WHO member states to complete Phase I activities outlined in the WHO Global Action Plan for Laboratory Containment of Wild Polioviruses. In the WHO Western Pacific Region (WPR), Phase I surveys of 77,260 laboratories in the 37 countries and areas of WPR were conducted during 1999–2008. A total of 45 laboratories were identified as holding WPV materials in 2008. This report describes completion of Phase I containment activities by WPR countries, and updates a previous report on Phase I completion in the European Region and global progress.