The annual meeting of the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for the Eradication of Polio took place in Algeria from 27 June–01 July 2016 to assess progress towards the certification of the African region as polio-free. A Secretariat comprised of representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) from the African region chaired the meeting of 47 African Member states, represented by National Polio Committees.

For certification, all countries in the WHO Region need to have had no case of wild polio for three consecutive years in the presence of high quality Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance systems. The last wild poliovirus (WPV) type 3 case had onset of paralysis on 10 November 2012 and the last WPV type 1 case had onset on 24 July 2014, with both reported from Nigeria. WPV type 2 has been eradicated globally after the last case reported from India had onset of paralysis on 24 October 1999. No single country can be certified as polio-free; certification can only occur on a WHO regional basis. With four of six WHO regions already certified polio free, only the Eastern Mediterranean and African regions remain to be certified in the path towards global eradication, and hence constitute a key priority for the GPEI.