Malawi is from 6-10 June 2022 hosting the 29th Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Poliomyelitis Eradication meeting. The ARCC meeting is being held at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe. The meeting was officially opened on 7 June 2022 by the Deputy Minister of Health Honorable Enock Phale and the ARCC Chairperson Professor Rose Leke.

Malawi was selected to host the ARCC meeting as it is considered a polio-affected country after the country declared an outbreak of wild poliomyelitis on 17 February following confirmation of the virus type. This was the first case of wild poliovirus in Malawi since 1992, and the first in Africa since the region was certified free of indigenous wild poliovirus in 2020.

The ARCC meeting in Lilongwe will also review annual certification update reports of six countries including Malawi, Ethiopia, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Senegal. These reports allow the ARCC and its secretariat to monitor the level of progress towards polio eradication for countries and the African Region in general.

The Deputy Minister of Health Honorable Enock Phale applauded the commission, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners for the continued financial and technical support in the fight against polio.

“As a country we are implementing different strategies to address the current wild poliovirus outbreak. However, we are looking forward to additional RCCA recommendations to guide on how we can move forward as a country to ensure that we address and stop wild poliovirus circulation and prevent future outbreaks.”

The WHO Representative in Malawi Dr Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo said the ARCC meeting is critical as it provides a platform for countries to share experiences as the commission provides guidance that inform country policies and actions towards polio eradication.

“The discussions during this meeting will provide an opportunity for the country and the region to strengthen global polio eradication activities, the Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), Environmental Surveillance, and immunization systems,” said Dr Neema Kimambo, WHO Representative in Malawi.

ARCC chairperson Professor Rose Leke said WPV1 outbreak in Malawi was a shock to ARCC especially in achieving the global polio eradication milestones. “The ARCC proposed to hold the meeting in Malawi to learn about the response activities going on in the country to stop the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) transmission and to advocate for continued strong political commitment. It is necessary for the country to have very highly sensitive surveillance, high quality vaccination response activities and strengthen routine immunization to ensure that no child is left behind.”

 Furthermore, the emergence of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks in most countries including Circulating Vaccine Derived Polioviruses (cVDPV) is also concerning for ARCC.  “ARCC remains vigilant and continues to monitor and advocate for high quality interventions to be made in countries to bridge the immunity and surveillance gaps and stop the cVDPV,” said Professor Leke.

ARCC is an independent body established in 1998 by the Regional Director of WHO to oversee the certification process and certified the African region free from the indigenous wild poliovirus. ARCC is currently evaluating reliability of data in documentation submitted by National Certification Committees to ensure that countries are adhering to the criteria set for the global certification of WPV. ARCC meets twice a year to review progress made in the annual certification updates of selected countries on polio eradication activities of all the 47 member’s state of the WHO African region. The Lilongwe meeting is the first face to face meeting since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.