In light of increased detections of polioviruses in the WHO European Region over the past 2 years, collaboration among key stakeholders is essential to assess regional progress towards the objectives of the Global Polio Surveillance Action Plan 2025–2026 (GPSAP), strengthen national capacities and ensure continuity of high-quality poliovirus surveillance.
This subregional meeting will provide participants from 9 countries in eastern Europe and central Asia with the opportunity to:
- review the GPSAP, focusing on its key strategies and objectives, and translating the Plan to the regional context;
- review polio surveillance capacity and address gaps in surveillance quality and timeliness, with the aim of improving virus detection and reporting;
- discuss integration strategies for polio surveillance with that of other vaccine-preventable diseases and health surveillance systems;
- develop a roadmap to sustain sensitive surveillance systems following poliomyelitis (polio) eradication; and
- identify priority actions, support needs and possibilities for trainings, visits and follow-up activities for 2026–2027.
Participants will include national health officials involved in coordination of poliovirus surveillance and/or polio eradication programmes, representatives of national and subnational polio laboratories and members of the Global Polio Laboratory Network.
The working language of the meeting will be Russian, with English translation available.