This year the Government of Indonesia has implemented a weekly reporting system, expanded the network of reporting units in the field, and conducted extensive training of the field staff. This has resulted in annualized rate for 1997 of 1.24. In addition, no wild poliovirus has been isolated in Indonesia since 1995. Similar success stories are currently taking place in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal. Wild poliovirus transmission continues to persist in Bangladesh, DPR Korea, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand.
Border management is again a critical area of concern.
Remaining challenges These data are encouraging, but a number of concerns need to be addressed if polio eradication is going to be achieved by the year 2000. The first deals with complacency. The commitment and level of effort put in to conducting successful national immunization days must continue yearly until wild poliovirus is eradicated. Inextricably linked to this, is preventing complacency and maintaining the cohesiveness of the strong partnership of donor and technical agencies supporting the Indian government's efforts to eradicate polio. Second, the development of surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis in most countries is still in its infancy.