Update: progress toward poliomyelitis eradication--Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1993-1994.

In 1988, the Western Pacific Region (WPR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a resolution to eradicate poliomyelitis from the region by the end of 1995. In 1993, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1993 population: 70.9 million) accounted for 452 (40%) of the 1147 cases of confirmed polio reported to WPR-WHO. Efforts to eradicate polio in Vietnam were initiated in 1991 using supplementary vaccination activities with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). National Immunization Days (NIDs) were first conducted during November-December 1993. This report updates these efforts and describes the impact of the first NIDs in 1993 (1).