At the start of a five-day 29th meeting of the African Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (ARCC), some delegates expressed concern over the lack of stringent measures towards the attainment of the eradication status.

This is the first physical meeting on Polio eradication in two years since the globe was hit by the COVID19 pandemic.

Responding to the call, Deputy Minister of Health, Enock Phale advised leaders to devise deliberate interventions that would stop the further spread of the disease.

He said, “It is very important that we become so vigilant, we should be able to put up resources that can respond to our initiatives.”

The meeting according to Phale will form part of efforts to develop a road map on how best to tackle the problem.

“Recommendations will be drawn from this meeting and this will form part of a road map on how best we can combat the disease,” Phale added.

ARCC Chair, Professor Rose Leke suggested that challenges affecting Polio eradication could be addressed through robust investment in campaigns.

“It calls us to step up actions to make sure that we have immunization campaigns and strengthen surveillance to ensure that we are able to detect and have the capacity to prevent further spread,” she said.

ARCC meets annually to review the performance of interventions on Polio eradication.

Detection of a Polio case in a three-year-old in February this year forced Malawi’s ministry of health to roll out a massive vaccination campaign.