Polio Eradication: Status, Transition and Legacy | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

As middle-income countries increasingly transition away from external donor assistance for health, the challenges of sustaining the gains achieved will be formidable. To help capture valuable lessons learned from recent transition processes, R4D is hosting a series of panels. In the next panel, experts will discuss key questions surrounding the status, transition and legacy of polio eradication efforts. As eradication advances to the last remaining countries with reported polio cases, large national programs with significant human, financial, and technical resources will no longer be needed. These programs could present either a burden or an opportunity to country governments.

At the event, experts will discuss the following key questions:

Have large-scale polio eradication programs had positive or negative effects on the growth and sustainability of routine immunization and of health systems as a whole?
What has worked and what has not with regard to the transition of assets like front-line workers and technical and managerial expertise? What more can be done in this area?
What lessons from polio can be applied to the broader effort to transition health programs from external to domestic funding and control?

Speakers and panelists

Mr. Robert Steinglass, Director, Immunization Center, John Snow, Inc.
Dr. Svea Closser, Assistant Professor, Middlebury College and author of “Chasing Polio in Pakistan”
Dr. Muhammad Pate, former Nigeria Minister of State for Health and Chair of Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication
Dr. Stephen L. Cochi, MD, Chair, Polio Eradication Initiative’s Polio Legacy Management Group and Senior Advisor to the Director, Global Immunization Division, Center for Global Health, CDC
Dr. Daniela Rodriguez, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr. Robert Hecht, Managing Director, Results for Development Institute (moderator)

Wednesday, July 1, 2015
10:00 AM – 12 noon EDT

«Read more about the event»

Past events

The Avahan Experience in India

Graduating Countries from GAVI Assistance

Transitioning Countries Away From Family Planning Assistance: USAID’s Experience in Latin America