26 July 2024, Cairo, Egypt – Health ministers from across the Eastern Mediterranean Region have united to address the polio emergency in the occupied Palestinian territory. The urgent need for coordinated, collective regional action to combat circulating variant poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in the Gaza Strip was the focus of the 11th meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks. WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy convened the meeting, held virtually on 25 July 2024.

The confirmation of poliovirus adds to the multiple threats faced today by children in the Gaza Strip, who had access to robust routine vaccination services prior to the war – and raises concerns about the potential for widespread poliovirus transmission and paralytic polio. While an estimated 99% of children in the occupied Palestinian territory received their third dose of polio vaccine in 2022, this fell to 89% in 2023 according to the latest routine immunization estimates by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Read more on the WHO EMRO website.