At its 21st meeting, the European Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication (RCC) emphasized the risk of wild poliovirus importation and recommended that "national plans for action in response to a polio importation should be developed/reviewed as part of the emergency response plan under international health regulations" and that "countries should conduct an exercise to test the national response plan". The importance of such exercises was underscored in 2010 when the WHO European Region experienced the first importation of wild poliovirus since it was certified as polio-free in 2002.
In keeping with the RCC's recommendation, the first "desktop" polio outbreak simulation exercise (named was successfully implemented 14-15 December 2011 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It included the participation of three Member States: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.
The main objectives of the exercise were: (1) to increase the level of preparedness for a possible event of importation of wild poliovirus into a poliomyelitis-free Member State and (2) to improve the capacity to respond rapidly to the detection of circulating polioviruses.
The scenario of the exercise envisaged cross-border transmission of wild poliovirus from a Roma family travelling to Sarajevo via Bulgaria, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. In its development, the “outbreak” resulted in limited local transmission with secondary cases among high-risk population groups. The participants “responded” to the detection and spread of wild poliovirus in line with their national plans, paying particular attention to initial response, reporting, immunization response, enhancing surveillance for polioviruses and communication/crisis management.
The exercise helped motivate participants to critically review and update their national plans for responding to the detection of wild polioviruses. Exercise facilitators from the WHO country office in Bosnia and Herzegovina attended, as did observers from WHO headquarters (Geneva) and regional reference laboratories in Rome and Helsinki. UNICEF provided technical input and support for the exercise. Professor Donato Greco, a member of the RCC, observed the exercise with satisfaction and presented certificates of attendance to all participants.
The exercise was developed and conducted in close technical collaboration with the Vaccine-preventable Diseases and Immunization programme of the WHO Regional Office for Europe (VPI) and the Emergency Response Department of the Health Protection Agency, United Kingdom (HPA), with support from the WHO Country Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.