The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) operates within a broad framework of intergovernmental and interagency cooperation and participation.
The World Health Assembly (WHA), and its Executive Board, which is the primary decision-making body of WHO, provides the highest level of governance for the GPEI. The Assembly issues the resolutions that determine the scope and direction for the GPEI globally, and secures the commitment of WHO Member States to support the work of the initiative. Detailed deliberations of WHO Regional Committees and the WHO Executive Board inform the polio related discussions of the Assembly at its annual meeting.
National governments are the owners and the beneficiaries of the GPEI. Polio-affected countries take primary responsibility and ensure accountability for the achievement of the objectives the strategic plan, and carry out the activities detailed in their action plans.
At an operational level, oversight of the GPEI is the responsibility of the Polio Oversight Board (POB). The POB receives and reviews input from the various advisory and monitoring bodies, and operational information from the Strategy Committee. The POB’s directives are implemented through the Strategy Committee, and its various management groups.
The Polio Oversight Board (POB), consisting of the heads of agencies of all GPEI core partners, ensures partnership structures at the leadership level, and the GPEI’s Strategy Committee assures operationalization of strategic approaches across all levels of the GPEI partner organizations.
The POB meets bi-monthly to provide strategic and programmatic oversight and ensure high-level accountability across the GPEI partnership.