Ninth Meeting of Polio Laboratory Network of South-East Asia Region, 27–29 September 2023, Mumbai, India

To eradicate poliovirus worldwide, World Health Assembly passed a resolution in 1988 that led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). GPEI is overlooking polio eradication worldwide and providing technical and administrative support to Member States. COVID-19 pandemic resulted in disruption of routine childhood immunization programmes and global polio vaccination campaigns in many countries around the globe. In June 2021, GPEI proposed the new Polio Eradication Strategy 2022–2026. The new strategy establishes two broader goals: 

1. Goal One. Permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission in endemic countries. 

2. Goal Two. Stop cVDPV transmission and prevent outbreaks in non-endemic countries. 

In achieving both goals, the strategy includes polio surveillance as a key activity with an emphasis on rapid poliovirus detection, characterization, and sequencing along with dissemination of information for rapid initiation of response activities. The successful implementation of these goals will require a substantial effort from the polio laboratories around the globe. To achieve these goals, GPEI has prepared a Global Polio Surveillance Action Plan 2022–2024. 

In an effort to bring the polio laboratories in the South-East Asia Region, up to date with the activities of the Polio Laboratory Network in the SE Asia Region and new tools being developed to tackle the challenges posed by changing epidemiology of poliovirus, the South-East Asia Region Office (SEARO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) organized the “Ninth meeting of polio laboratory network of South-East Asia Region” in Mumbai, India, from 27–29 September 2023. 

The general objective of the meeting was, “To address the emerging challenges of polio laboratories, enhance the technical knowledge and review the performance of polio laboratories in the South-East Asia Region.”