Health ministers and partners at the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean renewed their commitment to ending polio and strengthening routine immunization systems across the region.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative said wild poliovirus transmission remains concentrated in high-risk areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two countries where the virus is still endemic. Circulating variant poliovirus also remains a threat in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Delegates emphasized vaccination campaigns, stronger surveillance, cross-border coordination and reaching children in fragile or conflict-affected settings. Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan described continued political, technical or financial support, while no new region-wide dollar commitment was announced.
Funding pressure remains part of the challenge. WHO's regional officer-in-charge said the agency had worked to protect priority health programs despite a 14 percent budget cut. The latest WHO emergency committee assessment also said transmission had continued in both endemic countries and extended temporary recommendations intended to limit international spread.