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In May 1988 the World Health Assembly set to World Health Organization (WHO) the goal to achieve a global eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000. Surveillance of the acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) remains the ‘gold standard’ for the detection of polio. The criterion of sensitivity of the surveillance system is the incidence from non-polio related AFP, in children under 15 years of age. The aim is to detect more than 1 case of AFP, per 100,000 children. In 2019, WHO announced the eradication of wild poliovirus 3, and poliovirus 2 was eradicated in 2015. Wild poliovirus 1 continues to circulate. The main goals of the WHO Polio Eradication Strategy for the period 2022-2026 are: permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission in endemic countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan), stop cVDPV (circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus) transmission and prevent outbreaks in non-endemic countries.

Poliomyelitis is the infection that, after smallpox, is a “serious candidate” for eradication worldwide. In accordance with the WHO strategy for 2022-2026, epidemiological surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is carried out with the aim of poliomyelitis eradication.