The Government of Yemen, in close collaboration with the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO/EMRO), has succeeded in stopping a polio outbreak in record time. WHO headquarters in Geneva described the outbreak as “the largest epidemic that has affected one country in recent years”.
The poliovirus was transmitted to Yemen from neighbouring countries in February 2005. 478 polio cases were detected among children 2 years after Yemen had been declared polio-free. With full support from WHO/EMRO and other concerned organizations, Yemen went through a serious battle to halt transmission of the virus. With direct involvement and supervision by Dr Hussein A. Gezairy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, the highest political will was ensured, all technical and financial support required was provided, good quality vaccines were made available to cover mass immunization campaigns, and National Immunization Days were held all over the country as a supplement to routine immunization activities.
The full political support of H.E. Mr Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of Yemen, was the key element in making the efforts a success and helped stop the outbreak within 4 months. Outbreaks such as these usually take an entire year before intensive efforts can control them and stop the virus transmission. No cases have been reported since February 2006. Yemen’s experience has been described by WHO experts as “a significant achievement in the public health field and a success story”.
Yemen is one of many countries in the Region that had managed to eliminate polio before 2005—the previously fixed deadline to reach the globally targeted goal of polio eradication. The Region has had many success stories in its efforts to achieve polio-free status. The Regional Office was a pioneer in putting the polio eradication programme under the direct supervision of the Regional Director. This supervision and daily follow-up on the latest developments in all countries made it possible to overcome obstacles and solve problems immediately. Other key factors in the success of the programme were the development of effective surveillance systems, the establishment of a network to exchange data and experiences among Member States, and the issuing of the weekly PolioFax newsletter.
The year also saw many other polio eradication programme successes, such as Egypt being declared polio-free and the cessation of poliovirus transmission in many parts of Somalia. The remaining challenge is to eradicate polio from both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only two countries in the Region where the virus is still endemic.