Qatar's Health Minister Chosen Co-Chair of WHO Subcommittee

Dr Hanan Mohamed Al-Kuwari

The Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks at the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean has chosen HE the Minister of Public Health Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al-Kuwari as co-chair of the committee, during her participation in the fourth meeting of the Subcommittee, which was held recently through remote connection technologies.

In a speech before the meeting, HE Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al-Kuwari thanked the members of the committee for choosing her as a co-chair of the regional subcommittee on polio eradication and addressing its outbreaks, stressing the great importance of the committee's meeting, which discusses the issue of polio eradication.

Dr. Hanan said that although the last case of wild poliovirus infection was recorded in Qatar in 1990, children in all countries of the region, including children in Qatar, are still at risk, as long as polio continues to spread.

She also emphasized the important role of the Committee's meeting in supporting Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two countries in which polio is still endemic, to complete their efforts to eradicate it, in addition to providing support to countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region to mobilize quickly when affected by outbreaks.

The meeting reviewed a number of important topics, foremost of which were the regional update on polio eradication, and the draft Subcommittee statements on Afghanistan and Yemen, in addition to a report on the visit of the Polio Monitoring Board and the Regional Directors to Pakistan, the comments of the Board members and the Regional Directors of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in the Middle East and North Africa, and contributions of Member States to polio eradication. (QNA)