19 May 2025

WHA78, Geneva, 19-27 May 2025
Agenda item: 17.5
Document: A78/4

Chair, Your Excellencies, Director-General,

When we committed to eradicate polio in 1988, the world was different.

Today, conflict, climate change, and economic strain make our mission harder.

Yet, our goal is within reach.

Since 1988, we have reduced polio cases by 99.9 per cent, eliminated wild poliovirus in five WHO regions, and protected more than 20 million people from paralysis.

But the last mile is the hardest—and 99.9 per cent is not enough.

Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the final frontiers, but they are making real progress.

In places facing outbreaks of variant poliovirus—including Djibouti, the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—we are scaling up vaccination efforts and strengthening surveillance systems to protect every child.

However, giving two drops to every child is not as simple as it once was.

In Gaza, the February 2025 ceasefire allowed us to reach 46,000 more children than in previous vaccination campaigns. However, intensified attacks, a blockade of aid, and communities deprived of water, food, and medicines have suspended the fourth vaccination round.

Excellencies,

Despite reduced resources, we are delivering.

We are prioritizing vaccinating children in high-risk areas, empowering women health workers to reach them, and maintaining the systems needed to detect and stop the virus.

But the programme is underfunded.

Even with generous new support from countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is facing a 40 per cent budget cut in 2026.

We are at a tipping point.

Either we invest now to finish the job—or risk a global resurgence that could paralyze tens of thousands of children.

We do not have the luxury of time.

The longer eradication takes, the higher the costs—for health systems, for public trust, and for the children who remain at risk.

Together, we must finish the job and consign polio to history.

Thank you.