Tools and Guidance

The World Health Organization and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have developed tools and guidance to assist countries with planning for polio transition.

These tools and guidance are driven by country needs and are intended to support national governments, especially in the polio transition priority countries, to successfully map, cost, plan and budget essential functions that need to be sustained to keep the world polio-free and to make progress on key health targets. Each tool and guidance document has been designed to complement and align with national, regional and global action plans.

Guidelines for preparing a Transition Plan

The ‘Guidelines for preparing a Transition Plan’ were developed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to lay out a roadmap for polio-free countries to plan for polio transition. The Guidelines focus on organizing the polio transition process with the participation of all relevant stakeholders, resulting in the development of a comprehensive and tailored plan which accounts for essential assets and functions.

The article “Leveraging global investments for polio eradication to strengthen health systems’ resilience through transition” analyses global polio activities through the lens of health systems and the Common Goods for Health (CGH). The study highlights that to improve overall resilience, it is critical to continue to integrate polio essential functions into local health systems so that the capacity built through the polio eradication programme can be used for broader public health purposes. The study also shows that transition to domestic financing of polio activities could be staggered, prioritizing the transition to domestic funding for activities with limited global externalities, while seeking longer-term external funding for those that are global CGH.

Planning and Budgeting Tool for Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD) Surveillance in Priority Countries for Polio Transition: This tool was developed in 2021 by the WHO Polio Transition Team to assist countries to accurately plan and budget the appropriate level of domestic resources required to sustain and strengthen disease surveillance as part of their national health systems. The methodology is flexible and applicable to different contexts and to respond to specific country needs. The tool is accompanied by the related User Guide.

F. Tediosi , S. Villa , D. Levison , E. Ekeman , C. Politi. “Leveraging global investments for polio eradication to strengthen health systems’ resilience through transition” Health Policy and Planning, Volume 39, Issue Supplement_1, January 2024, Pages i93–i106