This guide draws on the experience gained in the Western Hemisphere over the past years, highlighting the surveillance and vaccination strategies necessary to eliminate measles and to monitor and sustain the progress toward that goal. It can be used in any country, although some of the measures described may need to be adapted to local conditions.

This document describes the guidelines of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for evaluating the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) at the country level. It is a response to the countries' need to improve the use of their technical and financial resources, to the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Group of the EPI, and to the mandates of the governments of the countries of the Hemisphere themselves.

This PAHO/WHO statement provides results of the investigation of serious adverse events that occurred in October 2007 following administration of yellow fever vaccine (17DD substrain) manufactured by Bio-Manguinhos, Brazil.

A previous PAHO/WHO statement on the reported events was issued on 2 November 2007 and recommended temporary suspension of specific lots of the vaccine.

The strategies that made polio eradication in the Americas possible are the same ones currently being implemented on a global scale and, essentially, those that will make it possible to keep the countries of the Americas polio-free: to achieve and maintain high vaccination coverage and adequate epidemiological surveillance.

The XVII Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Vaccine-preventable Diseases of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) was held from 25-27 July 2006 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The TAG recognized the substantial progress achieved by member countries since the last meeting in 2004, and the high quality presentations and abstracts at this meeting. This meeting focused on the new challenges involving the transition from child to family immunization. In addressing this unfinished agenda –protecting achievements and facing new challenges– representatives from countries of the Region of the Americas shared their experiences since the last TAG.

Measles/Rubella Case Investigation Form