Polio eradication: delegates recommit to step up efforts at the 69th Regional Committee for the ...

Tuesday 11 October 2022 Members of the Regional Subcommittee for Polio Eradication and Outbreaks in the Eastern Mediterranean reviewed recent progress during the 69th session of the Regional Committee. It was the sixth meeting of the subcommittee since it was formed during the 67th Regional Committee. During the meeting Member States and partners reiterated their commitment to freeing current and future generations of children from polio and called for sustained efforts to end polio once and for all, including the pockets of wild poliovirus that linger in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Representatives of partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and Regional Directors from the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia Offices of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) delivered interventions in support of the ongoing work to end polio in the Region. Member States represented either in person or virtually included Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Dr Hamid Jafari, Director of the Region’s Polio Eradication Programme, updated Member States on efforts to halt transmission of both wild and variant polioviruses in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since the 68th session of the Regional Committee nationwide vaccination campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan, the Region has implemented outbreak response campaigns using novel Oral ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news