SURVEY OF BCG VACCINATION POLICY IN EUROPE - 1994-96

A retrospective survey based on a standardized questionnaire sent to q ualified public health experts in tuberculosis in 50 European countrie s, was carried out to evaluate the following: concordance between nati onal vaccination programmes and WHO recommendations on BCG vaccination for prevention of tuberculosis; relation between BCG vaccination and revaccination policy and the tuberculosis epidemiological situation, a nd differences in BCG vaccination policy between Western and Central-E astern European countries. The results obtained (from 41 (82%) of the 50 countries) revealed that BCG vaccination programmes met WHO recomme ndations in 44% of European countries. Mass primary vaccination and ge neral revaccination were extremely common in countries where the preva lence of tuberculosis was high. A highly significant difference was fo und between Western and Central-Eastern European countries in terms of their adhesion to WHO recommendations. Within Central-Eastern Europe no difference was found between countries that had or had not been par t of the former Soviet Union. The implementation of WHO recommendation s into national tuberculosis programmes must be intensified, based on the available body of evidence. Preventive methods whose cost-effectiv eness has not been properly established should be discouraged.