The first move from health after the emergence of polio cases in a neighboring country

10:35 AM

Monday 23 November 2020

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Books – Ahmad Jumaa:

Dr. Hala Zayed, Minister of Health and Population, met yesterday evening with Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and Dr. Naima Al-Qusayr, representative of the World Health Organization in Egypt, at the headquarters of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo. To discuss strengthening preventive measures against the diseases targeted by vaccination, coinciding with the emergence of some outbreaks of some diseases targeted for vaccination in neighboring countries.

This came in the presence of Dr. Muhammad Awad Tajuddin, Advisor to the President of the Republic for Health Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Hassani, Assistant Minister for Public Health Initiatives, Dr. Alaa Eid, Head of the Preventive Medicine Sector, and a number of experts and consultants in the organization.

Dr. Khaled Mujahid, Advisor to the Minister of Health and Population for Media Affairs and the official spokesperson for the ministry, said that the minister stressed during the meeting the importance of cooperation with the World Health Organization on the recommendations and technical expertise necessary to keep Egypt free from polio by strengthening the system of compulsory vaccinations and strengthening the surveillance system. Environmental protection of polioviruses, as Egypt was the first country to start an environmental surveillance system, support preventive decision-making at the national level, and continue national programs and campaigns for polio vaccination.

Mujahid added that the meeting came in conjunction with the emergence of a number of cases of polio in some neighboring countries as a result of the conditions that these countries are going through, pointing out that the minister confirmed Egypt’s readiness to support brotherly countries and transfer its expertise in the field of vaccinations and surveillance to all friendly and neighboring countries.

Mujahid added that the minister called on the regional office and the country office of the World Health Organization in Egypt to cooperate with the Ministry of Health to prepare a technical report with recommendations and guidance necessary to maintain the strength of the vaccination and surveillance systems in Egypt.

In a related context, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari praised the efforts of Dr. Hala Zayed, Minister of Health and Population, to upgrade the health system in Egypt and to activate the national program for polio vaccination for all Egyptian and non-Egyptian children, pointing to the initiation of a regional strategy in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization. To eradicate polio in the countries of the region, in cooperation with Egypt, because of its pivotal role and a distinguished position among the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

For her part, Dr. Naima Al-Qusayr, the representative of the World Health Organization in Egypt, affirmed the success of the national vaccination program in Egypt, praising the procedures for strengthening the environmental surveillance system for polio through preventive teams at the Ministry of Health, and vaccinating all children through a number of national campaigns for polio vaccination, which It is carried out by the Ministry in all parts of the Republic.

Dr. Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din, Advisor to the President for Health Affairs, reviewed the measures taken by Egypt to eradicate polio through the national vaccination program, indicating that Egypt recorded a few cases of polio in 2002, and the national vaccination campaign succeeded. Poliomyelitis, which was launched from the age of one to 5 years in reaching the declaration of Egypt free of polio in 2006, and since that time Egypt has maintained the continuation of the national program of vaccination against polio.

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