Global Certification Commission

Global Certification Commission
AbbreviationGCC
FormationFebruary 16, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-02-16)
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersGeneva, Switzerland
Parent organization
World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) created the Global Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis (commonly known as the Global Certification Commission or GCC) in 1995 to independently verify the eradication of wild poliovirus.[1] The GCC certified the worldwide eradication of indigenous wild poliovirus type 2 on 20 September 2015,[2][3] and wild poliovirus type 3 on 17 October 2019.[4][5] In addition, five of the six World Health Organization Regions certified their status as free of indigenous transmission of all three serotypes of wild poliovirus (types 1, 2, and 3):

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only remaining polio endemic countries, with polio cases caused by type 1 wild poliovirus reported in 2021. Since 1988, international efforts led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have reduced poliomyelitis cases caused by wild poliovirus by over 99.99% using vaccination.

  1. ^ Hecht, Alan (2009). Polio. Infobase Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4381-0161-3.
  2. ^ "14th Meeting of the Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (GCC), Bali, Indonesia, 20-21 September, 2015" (PDF). World Health Organization. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Global eradication of wild poliovirus type 2 declared". Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 20 September 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Report from the Twentieth Meeting of the Global Commission for Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication" (PDF). World Health Organization. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  5. ^ "GPEI-Two out of three wild poliovirus strains eradicated". Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  6. ^ Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) (7 October 1994). "Certification of poliomyelitis eradication--the Americas, 1994" (PDF). MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 43 (39): 720–722. PMID 7522302. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  7. ^ Yamazaki, S.; Toraya, H. (2001). "(General News) Major Milestone reached in Global Polio Eradication: Western Pacific Region is certified Polio-Free". Health Educ. Res. 16 (1): 110–111. doi:10.1093/her/16.1.109.
  8. ^ "Europe achieves historic milestone as Region is declared polio-free". 2002. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  9. ^ "WHO South-East Asia Region certified polio-free". WHO. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  10. ^ "Africa eradicates wild poliovirus". WHO Regional Office for Africa. 29 August 2023. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2021.