The presence of wild poliovirus in the three remaining endemic for poliomyelitis countries as well as epidemic diseases in other countries are now a constant threat of importation and transmission of wild poliovirus in EU countries specifically after the recent announcements of the World Health Organization .

For this reason it was considered necessary to form an action plan for keeping our country “free from polio” as it was announced today by the Deputy Minister of Health, Zeta Makri, although the European region of the World Health Organization was certified as a “polio-free” region in 2002 .

The plan consists of three actions:

1. Actions to maintain high levels of poliomyelitis immunization coverage

2. Actions to maintain high quality laboratory-based surveillance in order to detect quickly the importation of wild poliovirus or circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus

3. Actions to be implemented in the event of a suspected or confirmed incident and carrying out a strategy plan at national level