Qatar attends a meeting of the regional subcommittee for polio eradication

Qatar attended the 5th session of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks via teleconferencing.  The dedicated team of the State of Qatar to the meeting was led by Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, who's also the co-chair of the committee.

The summit discussed several key issues, including recent advancements in the Eastern Mediterranean Region's polio eradication efforts, acknowledgment of Member States' support for polio eradication, and recommended polio eradication initiatives in the area.

In her address at the conference, Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari reaffirmed Qatar's commitment again to the World Health Organization's (WHO) humanitarian initiatives, primarily in the areas of emergency management and service.

 Last March, the State of Qatar sponsored an elevated meeting to address Afghanistan's interim health goals for the next 18–24 months, as Afghanistan is among the remaining two nations where the disease is prevalent, according to the Minister. The summit was an opportunity for collaborators and sponsors to collaborate to identify solutions to prevent the spread of illnesses such as polio.

As a participant and co-chair of the subcommittee, Qatar has a responsibility to collaborate concerning safeguarding the children in the area from the immobility induced by the polio virus. 

She stated that polio recovery in the Eastern Mediterranean region remains fragile and that the wild poliovirus has disabled and paralyzed nine children in Afghanistan and Pakistan thus far. Children in other nations in the region also succumb to polio as a consequence of decreased levels of vaccination programs.

She emphasized the importance of improving the body’s immune system in children, particularly those who have yet to receive immunization and polio vaccination campaigns and proposed the creation of a facilitating environment that encourages healthcare practitioners to access children with both the 2 drops of the polio vaccine and the injectable vaccine.

The Minister emphasized the significance of developing tangible frameworks in the Eastern Mediterranean region to prevent violence against health care workers and to assist the family members of those who have been killed or injured in such attacks, recognizing that eight polio vaccinators, four of whom were women, were struck in Afghanistan in February while doing their job of administering the vaccine to children.

Al Kuwari praised the operations of different nations, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Djibouti, and Somalia, in managing cross-border activities, and thanked the appropriate authorities for their initiatives in raising domestic financing for vaccination campaigns.