On World Polio Day 24 October 2014, health authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina renewed their promise to future generations of a polio-free Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The promise was renewed during a special session of the Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication in Bosnia and Herzegovina held in Sarajevo, together with WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Rotary International.
Progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina saw its last reported case of polio in 1974 and celebrated reaching its polio-free status in 2002, the same year the entire WHO European Region was certified free of polio. At that time, Bosnia and Herzegovina had to demonstrate that it had had at least 3 years of zero polio cases due to indigenous wild poliovirus and that it had put in place strong surveillance and the capacity to detect, report and respond to imported polio cases.
During the special session, representatives of health authorities in the country described successes and challenges in polio eradication activities and polio/acute flaccid paralysis surveillance as well as in ensuring high immunization coverage, with a focus on WHO standards and policy guidance. WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International also reported on their supportive role to maintain polio-free status for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Protecting polio-free status of the European Region
Earlier this year, the WHO European Region marked 12 years since it was certified free of polio. Stopping transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus in the 53 Member States in the Region was a landmark in the effort to eradicate polio globally, and helped accelerate international momentum towards that goal.
World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. Since then, GPEI has reduced polio worldwide by 99%.
We are close to eradicating polio, but the job is not quite finished yet. World Polio Day is a time to commemorate what we have done, and to renew our energy to reach our noble goal in the near future.