Abuja, 3 December 2002 -- Countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region made reasonable progress in the areas of accelerated disease control, disease surveillance and routine immunization during 2002, the Regional Adviser for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr Deo Nshimirimana has reported.

Dr Nshimirimana gave this indication during a presentation on "Overview of the Regional Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) progress during 2002" at the ongoing 10th meeting of the Task Force on Immunization in Africa in Abuja, Nigeria.

In the area of accelerated disease control, Dr. Nshimirimana reported that in 2002, an estimated 20 percent reduction in annual measles death was achieved, as about 89,000 deaths were averted. There was also active Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance, as most districts in the Region reported at least one case of AFP in the last two years. A total of 6,589 cases of AFP were reported from January to November 2002.

He stated that the number of polio-endemic countries in the African Region reduced from 17 in 1999 to just three as at November 2002 -Nigeria, Niger and possibly Angola. Similarly, confirmed wild polioviruses dropped from 246 three years ago to 149 by November 2002, despite dramatic improvements in Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance in the same period. He noted that in spite of the successes recorded so far, more that one million deaths in the Region during the year were attributable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, Hepatitis B and Pertussis.

In order to consolidate the achievements recorded within the year, Dr. Nshimirimana advised that comprehensive work plans for polio eradication activities should be developed and implemented, with district level focus and a view towards integration. Functions of surveillance and laboratory infrastructure should be expanded, he added.

Other interventions he advocated were implementation of planned measles control activities; strong political commitment; documentation and utilization of best practices of polio eradication for other disease control objectives and implementation of the "Reaching every district" strategy.

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