OIC and U.S. forge partnership to eradicate Polio 2 Jeddah

The Heads of States of the OIC Member States at the Third
Extraordinary Islamic Conference held in Makkah in December 2005
decided to take effective measures to eradicate poliomyelitis.

The First and Second Conferences of the OIC Health Ministers held in
2007 and 2009 respectively, called on political and religious leaders
in the OIC Member States to help create a movement of solidarity for
polio eradication and further urged the OIC Member States where
poliomyelitis is still prevalent to enhance political commitment;
intensify eradication efforts and mobilize national financial
resources to meet the shortfalls.

The Conference of Health Ministers further urged initiation of an
OIC Polio Eradication Program, with the OIC Secretary General to take
the lead, in collaboration with the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative to assist in the process of eradication of polio from the
remaining OIC Member States.

The OIC Secretary General, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who has
been in active cooperation with the WHO in efforts to eradicate polio
since he assumed office in 2005 and who has appealed to the OIC
Member States on every occasion to provide resources for the Global
Polio Initiative, was honored in 2007 with the prestigious "Polio
Eradication Champion Award” by the Rotary International as a
recognition of his personal contribution to the cause of eradicating
polio.

The Secretary General has recently written letters to the Presidents
of Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan to congratulate them on
launching of National Immunization Campaigns in their respective
countries in 2009.

Meanwhile, he requested the International Islamic Fiqh Academy to
engage with religious leaders and issue relevant religious edicts
(fatwas) to counter baseless rumors and misinformation surrounding
the polio eradication campaigns and vaccines.

--SPA