[Polio close to eradication]

Polio close to eradication The WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative has been highly successful. With a dramatic decrease in polio since it started in 1988, the number of globally reported cases reached a record low of 37 in 2016. This article describes the WHO Endgame Strategic Plan including milestones that have been reached and challenges that have to be overcome in order to reach the goal of polio eradication by 2020. Efforts to strengthen immunizations systems and to detect and interrupt polio virus transmission focus on the three remaining endemic countries, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. In 2016 the WHO took the first step to withdraw the oral polio vaccine (OPV) by globally shifting from trivalent to bivalent OPV.  The role of the inactivated vaccine (IPV) in the final phase of eradication and in the post-eradication situation is also considered. Certification of eradication and containment of all polio virus by the end of 2020 is a key objective. Legacy planning includes mainstreaming polio functions into ongoing public health programmes.