Minister of Health: Polio eradication needs vaccine and funding for national campaigns

Geneva (ST): The activities of the Executive Council of the World Health Organization continued its 152nd session in Geneva for the fifth day, which continues until the 7th of this month.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Hassan Al-Ghabash, confirmed in a statement on behalf of the member states of the Eastern Mediterranean Region, regarding the polio program, that great steps are being taken to eradicate the virus in most countries, and better results would have been achieved had it not been for the Covid-19 epidemic.

Minister Al-Ghabash indicated several steps that must be taken to eradicate polio, including securing the vaccine and financing for national campaigns, monitoring acute flaccid paralysis for early detection, and integrating the polio program into the expanded vaccination program and primary health care,  underlining the importance of providing support to obtain infrastructure to ensure that the disease does not occur, and to ensure environmental surveillance in all countries to detect any type of polio virus in sanitation before an outbreak occurs.

The Minister of Health explained the importance of treating all countries the same, in terms of securing the oral and muscular paralysis vaccine, and carrying out house-to-house campaigns in high-risk areas, while ensuring awareness-raising, spreading basic messages, and benefiting from the experiences of countries that eradicated the disease from them.

In another statement of the Syrian Arab Republic on substandard and counterfeit medical products, the Minister of Health explained that they represent a serious threat to public health in the region, especially in low- and middle-income countries, pointing out that the Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to the spread of substandard and counterfeit medicines, and there is a need for adequate control of the supply of medicines in countries of the region, especially since licensed distributors, pharmacists, health care providers and patients cannot detect substandard and falsified products.

K.Q.