When the world entered the new millennium, the Western Pacific Region marked a momentous occasion in public health history. On 29 October 2000, the Region where one quarter of the world's people live achieved certification of polio-free status. Today, after having been challenged by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), avian influenza and other infectious diseases, every country in the Region is maintaining polio-free status with quality immunization and surveillance programmes and continues to be committed to past investments. Everyone can share in this victory because it has taken the efforts of the entire community to get rid of this crippling disease.

The journey towards this historic day started more than a decade ago. In the early 90s, close to 6000 cases of poliomyelitis were reported every year throughout the Region, most of them in China; however, 60 000 cases or more were probably occurring every year.

At the time, some cases were not being identified because of weak surveillance. In those days, few people believed the circulation of wild poliovirus in the Region could be stopped. Nevertheless, on 19 March 1997, the Region’s last case caused by an indigenous (i.e. locally circulating) poliovirus was reported in a young girl living in Cambodia.