Status of polio eradication in the seven countries of the Eastern Africa Epidemiological Block

Abstract

The progress that Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, the seven countries of the Eastern Africa Epidemiological Block (EAEB), have made toward polio eradication is summarized. Despite low per capita gross national product, poor infrastructure (especially for communication and transportation), and civil unrest, the EAEB has made significant progress toward polio eradication. Five of the seven countries have achieved high levels of routine coverage with at least three doses of oral polio vaccine. Virologic surveillance is established in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Kenya; will be established in Eritrea in 1997; and will be resumed in Rwanda as soon as civil unrest abates. Political support for polio eradication is strong in the region, and all of the EAEB countries, except Burundi, held either national or subnational immunization days in 1996.