Addis Ababa, 21 October 2013 -- A two-day meeting of the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for polio eradication opened today at Radisson Blu Hotel in Addis Ababa. The meeting, hosted by WHO Ethiopia Country Office, was opened by Prof R Leke, Chairperson of the ARCC, followed by a welcoming remark by Dr Pierre M’plele, WHO Representative to Ethiopia. In his welcoming remarks, Dr M’pele highlighted that ensuring that all six WHO regions are certified as having eradicated all wild polioviruses by end 2018 is one of the four main objectives of the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan, and that the ARCC is playing a critical role in certifying the Africa Region as per global standards for certification.

The ARCC for Polio Eradication was appointed by the WHO African Regional Director to serve as the principal advisory body that reviews country-level certification reports submitted to it, and formulates recommendations for regional/country certification. ARCC members are charged with reviewing certification documentation from all 47 countries in the WHO African Region and verifying the absence of poliovirus in the presence of certification-standard surveillance. The ARCC meeting was attended by 25 participants from countries of the WHO African Region, Iran, USA and Canada.

The ARCC convened the meeting with the objective of updating ARCC members on the current status of Polio Eradication in the Africa Region; update ARCC members on the modalities of implementation of the 2013-2018 Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan in the African Region; reviewing, in-depth, the status of functionality of National Certification Committees (NCCs), National Polio Expert Committees (NPECs) and National Containment Task Forces (NTFs) in member states of the African Region; and achieving consensus on 2014 certification and containment work plan for the African Region.

Global and regional as well as country polio eradication updates were presented by participants, followed by discussion. Over the course of the meeting, as per the objectives of the meeting, the 2013-2018 polio eradication end-game strategic plan will be presented and discussed, followed by overview of the status of certification and containment in the African Region and development of the ARCC 2014 work plan.

This meeting, which is the first since 2009, is a crucial step towards hastening the restart of intensive polio certification and containment activities in the African Region. This is a key event, particularly in view of the fact that it is taking place in Eastern Africa in the wake of wild poliovirus occurrence in four East African countries.

 01 Polio African Regional Certification Commission Meeting In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21-22 October 2013 02 Prof Leke, ARCC Chairperson And Dr MPele, WHO Representative In Ethiopia Opened The Africa Regional Certification Commission ARCC Meeting Today, 21st October 2013 In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 03 ARCC Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 21-22, 2013 04
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For more information, please contact:

Dr Kassahun Mitiku kasahunm [at] et.afro.who.int Tel: +251-911 500 324 or

Loza Mesfin lozam [at] et.afro.who.int Tel: +251-911 144 194