Geneva, 25 August 2020 — The World Health Organization's African Region was today officially certified as free of wild poliovirus, capping a decades-long eradication effort that involved 47 member states, millions of health workers, and an unprecedented coordination of immunization campaigns across a continent of more than one billion people.
The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) issued the certification after the region recorded no cases of wild poliovirus for four consecutive years — one year longer than the standard three-year requirement, a precaution taken to account for surveillance challenges in areas affected by conflict and political unrest.
With this declaration, five of the six WHO regions are now free of wild poliovirus, meaning over 90% of the world's population lives in regions certified free of the virus. Only two countries worldwide continue to experience wild poliovirus transmission: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A Decades-Long Campaign
The certification was the culmination of a campaign that formally began in 1996, when Nelson Mandela joined with Rotary International and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to launch the "Kick Polio Out of Africa" campaign. At the time, every country on the continent was endemic for the disease.
The effort required overcoming extraordinary logistical challenges: reaching children in remote communities across vast distances, navigating conflict zones where health services were disrupted, and countering the virus's ability to spread quickly across porous borders. Countries successfully coordinated supplementary immunization activities, often conducting synchronized national immunization days across multiple nations simultaneously.
The GPEI — a public-private partnership led by national governments with six core partners including WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — provided the technical, financial, and operational backbone for the effort.
Leadership and Innovation
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, called the achievement "one of the greatest public health achievements of our time."
"Ending wild polio virus in Africa is one of the greatest public health achievements of our time and provides powerful inspiration for all of us to finish the job of eradicating polio globally. I thank and congratulate the governments, health workers, community volunteers, traditional and religious leaders and parents across the region who have worked together to kick wild polio out of Africa."
Strong leadership and innovation were instrumental in stopping the wild poliovirus in the region. Countries successfully coordinated their efforts to overcome major challenges to immunizing children, including high levels of population movement, conflict and insecurity restricting access to health services, and the virus's ability to spread quickly and travel across borders.
Rotary International President Holger Knaack noted that the milestone came during an especially challenging period for global health. "During a challenging year for global health, the certification of the African region as wild poliovirus-free is a sign of hope and progress that shows what can be accomplished through collaboration and perseverance," he said.
Infrastructure Built for the Future
The resources and expertise developed to eliminate wild polio have significantly contributed to Africa's broader public health infrastructure. The polio programme's surveillance network, laboratory systems, and workforce of community health workers have been leveraged for outbreak response across the continent, including the African region's response to COVID-19 and efforts to bolster routine immunization against other vaccine-preventable diseases.
A Persistent Threat Remains
While the certification marks a historic victory against wild poliovirus, health officials warned against complacency. Type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) — a rare strain that can emerge in under-immunized populations — was present in 16 countries in the African region at the time of certification.
Pockets of low immunity mean such strains continue to pose a threat, and the risk was magnified by interruptions in vaccination due to COVID-19, which left communities more vulnerable to cVDPV2 outbreaks. The GPEI called on countries and donors to remain vigilant against all forms of polio, noting that until every strain is eradicated worldwide, the progress made against polio globally will remain at risk.
The WHO African Region's success against wild polio has shown the world that progress against some of the biggest global health challenges is possible. The certification stands as a testament to what can be accomplished through sustained political commitment, international cooperation, and the tireless work of frontline health workers who reached children even in the most challenging circumstances.
Sources
- World Health Organization, "Global Polio Eradication Initiative applauds WHO African Region for wild polio-free certification," 25 August 2020
- WHO Regional Office for Africa, "Africa eradicates wild poliovirus"
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), polioeradication.org
- CDC Global Health, "Africa Certified Wild Polio-Free," 25 August 2020
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Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
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