Progress and challenges toward poliomyelitis eradication in Indonesia

Poliomyelitis is one of few diseases that can be eradicated. The virus cannot survive outside the body and effective vaccine is available to protect children and stop transmission. Today, there are 3 million children each year saved by the oral polio vaccine (OPV) and globally the reported cases have declined from 50,000 to 7,000 in 1999. At present, 20 countries may remain at risk of continued transmission, mostly in Africa and Asia. In the region of SEARO, wild poliovirus is still transmitted in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Efforts to eradicate polio had been made in Indonesia, through a four-pronged strategy; routine immunization, National Surveillance Days (NIDs), surveillance of Acute Onset of Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases, and supplementary immunizations. No polio cases have been detected in Indonesia since 1995, but some problem will remain until the whole SEARO region is certified polio-free. Filling the immunization gap and revitalizing the AFP surveillance program are among the highest priority activities.