Member States urged to go all in to end polio during meeting of the Regional Subcommittee for …
10 October 2023 ‒ The urgency of ending polio was impressed upon Member States at the ninth meeting of the Regional Subcommittee for Polio Eradication and Outbreaks in the Eastern Mediterranean, held during the 70th session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean Endemic wild poliovirus is present only in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, in just 2 countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Polio has no cure, and the strategy for its eradication is based on immunizing every child, through multiple high-quality vaccination campaigns.
At the meeting, Member States and Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners also acknowledged Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari’s impressive leadership on polio eradication during his term as WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. He steps down from the post in January 2024.
Dr Al-Mandhari, who has had a pivotal role in establishing and leading the Regional Subcommittee, urged Member States to throw their full support behind all countries with continuing transmission. “Through a combination of programme improvements, political will and sheer hard work, wild poliovirus is now only circulating in the smallest geographic footprint,” he said. “We cannot let this history-making moment slip away. Now is the time to go all in.”
In her remarks, Regional Subcommittee Co-chair Her Excellency Dr Hanan Mohamed