Western hemisphere leading the way in disease eradication.

EPI Newsl 19(4):4-6 (1997) PMID 12348217

National immunization programs in the Americas are fine examples of what mankind can achieve through the appropriate use of technology, global collaboration, and political will for the benefit of all. Over the past 20 years, Western Hemisphere countries have led the world in the war against vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. In September 1985, the 31st Meeting of the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) Directing Council established the goal of eradicating the indigenous transmission of wild poliovirus from all countries of the Americas by 1990. Investigations of more than 4000 stool specimens by 1991 identified wild poliovirus transmission in only Colombia and Peru. In September 1994, and following an extensive review of surveillance information, key polio surveillance indicators and laboratory results throughout the region, the International Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (ICCPE) declared that transmission of wild poliovirus had been interrupted in the Americas. PAHO's recommended measles vaccination strategy has led to the interruption of measles transmission in major geographic areas of the Americas, but the disease still circulates freely elsewhere in the world. Cases of neonatal tetanus (NNT) continue to decline due to PAHO's recommended strategy of vaccinating women of childbearing age with at least 2 doses of tetanus toxoid vaccine, especially in high-risk areas for the disease. NNT is endemic in 16 countries in the Americas.