Qatar Participates in Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication, Outbreaks Meeting

Doha, October 11 (QNA) - The State of Qatar participated Tuesday in the sixth meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks at the WHO's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean which was held virtually. HE Minister of Public Health Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari represented the State of Qatar in the meeting. Her Excellency is also the subcommittee co-chair. In her speech during the meeting, Her Excellency affirmed the importance of urgent action at this stage when the poliovirus variants may threaten to infect children in many countries worldwide, stressing the importance of reaching every child without exception through routine and complementary vaccination to reach a polio-free world by reaching all children, particularly amid ongoing difficult humanitarian circumstances. Her Excellency added that vaccine-derived polioviruses have been detected in countries that have not witnessed any case of these viruses for decades, pointing out that a large number of children in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen are still, at the same time, outside the scope of vaccination coverage, for reasons ranging from floods, insecurity and inaccessibility. Her Excellency stressed the urgency of huge efforts for the safety of the entire region without neglecting any population category or a single child. Her Excellency stressed the determination to eradicate polio to become the second disease to be eradicated after smallpox, which necessitates that leaderships in the region would consider polio eradication a priority by mobilizing timely funding for high-quality campaigns, advocating for all children to be vaccinated against polio, and ensuring the safety and security of all polio field workers. Her Excellency concluded her speech by warning against the polio virus, whether it is wild or derived from vaccines, adding that children are exposed to the risk of contracting the disease for life, in case the collective promise to eradicate it is not implemented. (QNA)