The 24th meeting of the African Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication (ARCC) which was held in Lusaka from 16-20 September 2019 has come to a close. During the closing ceremony, the ARCC Chairperson Professor Rose Leke announced that the Commission had accepted the complete documentation of Equatorial Guinea and South Africa on their polio free status and congratulated the Chairpersons of the National Certification Committees and all who had contributed to this achievement at country level. She also stated that the Commission acknowledged the quality of the reports presented on polio eradication activities from Central African Republic, Nigeria and South Sudan that are pending documentation acceptance by the ARCC including update reports from DRC and Zambia whose complete documentation was previously accepted by ARCC. Professor Leke emphasized the need to accelerate the certification of the African Region as polio free through strengthened surveillance and routine immunization.  “We also urge all countries to strengthen surveillance especially at the sub-national level, including in areas of insecurity and at-risk populations, to strengthen population’s immunity through a more robust routine vaccination and the quality of vaccination campaigns against polio” She said.

At the same occasion, the Director of the Zambia National Public Health Institute, Dr. Victor Mukonka who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Health said that although much progress was made towards polio eradication in Africa, circulating vaccine derived polioviruses (cVDPV) were a reminder of the need to redouble efforts of immunization and surveillance. “Universal Health Coverage demands that we reach every district and every child with quality immmunisation services”, he said.

The WHO Representative, Dr. Nathan Bakyaita emphasized the importance of countries to implement the recommendations of the ARCC. He also reiterated that WHO working with other UN agencies and other partners would support government in its efforts of strengthening immunization systems and implementing the recommendations of the ARCC.

This meeting  brought together 87 participants which also included representatives from the WHO Inter-country Support Teams, WHO regional Office for Africa, WHO Headquarters, UNICEF, Centres for Disease Prevention and Control, ROTARY and BMGF.

The Africa Regional Commission for Certification of poliomyelitis eradication (ARCC) is an independent body appointed in 1998 by the WHO Regional Director for African to oversee the certification and containment process. It is the only body that can certify that the Africa region is free of polio.  The primary requirements for certifying the region as free of Wild Polio virus: the absence of WPV for a minimum of 3 consecutive years in all countries of the region; The presence of high quality certification standard AFP surveillance in all countries during that 3 years period; a high OPV 3 coverage above 90%; Implementation of phase 1 laboratory containment of polioviruses; a robust national polio outbreak preparedness and response plan; and a functional national polio certification committee.