Global Polio Partners Call on the OIC to Take Firm Action and Financially Support Polio Eradication Efforts

United Nations Foundation: Washington, DC, 24 June — On a teleconference call with Arab journalists, representatives of the polio partnership warned that Organization of Islamic Conference countries are at a critical situation regarding the presence of polio in their countries and called on governments with the financial means to urgently provide funding to eradicate polio in all the member states. (full transcript).

The discussion was moderated by United Nations Foundation President Senator Timothy E. Wirth and the participants were: Professor Ekmeleddin Ishanoglu, Secretary General of the OIC; Dr. Rima Salah, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF; and Dr. M.H. Wahdan, Special Advisor to the Regional Director for Polio Eradication for the World Health Organization (WHO). 

“We need more leadership to increase access to lifesaving services and to immunization. As long as they ignore the situation in poorer countries, the disease will continue to haunt us all, “said Dr. Salah. Dr. Wahdan added, “as long as polio is present anywhere in the world, it can reach other countries and can cause devastating epidemics as the ones we are seeing at the moment.” 

The Foreign Ministers of the OIC countries will meet at the 32nd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Sana'a, Yemen on Tuesday June 28, 2005. The Secretary General of the OIC, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called on the member states to announce financial commitments to polio eradication efforts at the conference. “About $3 million has been raised in external resources from OIC countries for global polio eradication, primarily from Malaysia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. No doubt, there are additional funds required urgently from OIC countries to finance this campaign, and particularly to look after the epidemic – the polio eradication in OIC countries,” said Professor Ihsanoglu. 

Facts on polio and the OIC

• There are six countries in the world that are still polio-endemic—Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Five of these countries are OIC members.
• Five of the six countries in Africa that have re-established polio transmission six months after experiencing a polio importation, are also members of the OIC—Sudan, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cote d' Ivoire. 
• In 2004, 86 percent of all children paralyzed through polio in the world were in OIC countries in Africa and in Asia, and 75 percent of all children under age five in OIC countries live in polio affected or high-risk countries. 
• OIC members Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia have recently been re-infected with polio through importations, and 9 of the 11 countries with polio in 2005 are members of the OIC. 
• To succeed, the 17-year Initiative urgently requires US$50 million for immunizations for the latter half of 2005 by July, and needs multi-year pledges for 2006-2008, the most pressing of which is US$200 million, for 2006. 

“So, it is very important now to move rapidly to intervene once more, and do so very aggressively, very immediately. That’s going to cost funding. And again, the importance of the OIC countries to step up and fill this vacuum is exceedingly important,” said Senator Timothy E. Wirth.

Contact: Amy DiElsi, +1-202-419-3230