Brazzaville hosts pivotal CRCA session on polio eradication
From 2 to 5 December 2025 the Congolese capital temporarily became the nerve centre of the continent’s anti-polio campaign, as the thirty-fifth meeting of the African Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (CRCA) convened under the auspices of the Ministry of Health with technical support from the World Health Organization’s country office. Over the course of four intense days, government delegations and public-health experts from Ethiopia, Angola, Senegal, Chad and the host nation reviewed surveillance data, compared operational lessons and drafted a set of general and country-specific resolutions aimed at consigning poliomyelitis to history.
Government recognition of progress and partnership
Opening the proceedings, the Minister of Health’s adviser, Dr Jean-Claude Moboussé, conveyed the Government’s “warm congratulations to the CRCA for its decisive role in the continental certification process” and praised the advances already achieved in epidemiological monitoring, surveillance indicators and community mobilisation thanks to national teams, WHO and allied partners. Such acknowledgement, made in an international forum, underlined Brazzaville’s determination to shoulder its share of the collective responsibility.
Review of achievements since the 2024 Dar es-Salaam meeting
Participants took stock of developments since the previous session held in Tanzania in October 2024. While noting steady progress in several regions, the commission confirmed that circulating poliovirus outbreaks continue to trouble the Lake Chad basin and Angola, with recent detections spilling into Namibia. These findings, the delegates warned, expose the structural vulnerabilities of interconnected health systems and compel accelerated action. In response, the CRCA adopted a suite of resolutions designed to sharpen outbreak response, deepen environmental surveillance and expand routine immunisation coverage across member states.
Country focus: strengthening Congo’s vaccination shield
Although the Congo remains polio-free in terms of endemic transmission, the commission documented approximately twenty poliovirus cases detected on Congolese soil since 2023, primarily linked to external importations. The analysis highlighted several critical gaps: vaccination coverage remains below the protective threshold; environmental sampling, though improving, still fails to reach target performance; neighbouring outbreaks in Angola, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo maintain a high risk of cross-border introduction; limited activities have reached communities hosting refugees from the DRC; five specimens dispatched to the Kinshasa reference laboratory were lost in transit; and a national containment plan has yet to be finalised.
Against this backdrop, the CRCA urged national authorities to assert stronger ownership of surveillance and immunisation tasks and to institutionalise transboundary coordination mechanisms. Fulfilment of these recommendations, delegates agreed, would allow for earlier detection and swifter interruption of any viral incursion.
Regional vigilance as new variants emerge
The chair of the commission, Professor Rose Gana Fomban Léké, applauded “the tangible strides achieved in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa” but voiced concern over the appearance of type 1 and type 3 poliovirus variants, whose frequency rose modestly in 2025 with fresh clusters observed in Algeria and Djibouti. Her call for “sustained alertness and proactive, urgent response” resonated strongly among the delegates, who agreed to advocate for domestic budget lines dedicated to routine immunisation and laboratory surveillance.
A closing message of resolve and solidarity
Wrapping up the session, the Director of the Minister’s Cabinet, Professor Donatien Mounkassa, reminded participants that the CRCA embodies both independent scientific scrutiny and strategic guidance for the sub-region. “The recommendations formulated here strengthen our conviction that polio eradication remains within reach, provided we persevere with rigour, solidarity and constancy,” he affirmed.
For the five participating nations, the Brazzaville rendez-vous reaffirmed a shared determination to bequeath to future generations a continent irrevocably free of poliomyelitis. The Congo’s commitment to a high-performance surveillance system, fortified routine vaccination and prompt outbreak response stands at the heart of that aspiration, bolstered by the continuing support of WHO and other partners.