Health Minister Abdullah Al-Rabeeah announced Monday that the Kingdom would support the polio campaign in Pakistan in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) under the direction of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

The minister made the statement during his speech at the 60th session of the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO) of the World Health Organization, which was inaugurated in Muscat on Sunday.

The minister stressed that the assistance, which would be in kind, will be carried out in line with the direction of the king.

Ala Alwan, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said that the initiative of the king will be a great boost to the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to eradicate polio permanently from the countries in the region. The chairman of the current session, Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Said, who is Oman's minister of health, said that this 'initiative is not unusual for the brothers in the Kingdom. “What we heard from the minister of health on the announcement of King Abdullah's support for the project to get rid of polio in the region is a good initiative.”

Assad Hafez, director of public health at Pakistan's Ministry of Health, extended his country's gratitude to King Abdullah for his generous support to help Pakistan in getting rid of polio and save both the mother and child.

He also pointed out that cooperation between the two countries in such efforts has a long history.

The inaugural session was held in the presence of ministers of health, their representatives and delegates of member states of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, representatives of national, regional and international organizations and agencies concerned with health and the WHO Secretariat.

At the top of the Regional Committee's agenda this year are a range of priority health issues. Maternal and child health is one of the issues for discussion by members of the committee.

According to the United Nations Interagency Group on Child Mortality Estimation (2012 report), the region has several countries in which under-5 mortality rates are among the lowest in the world, ranging between 7 and 10 per 1,000 live births. However, the pace of progress is slow in the rest of the region, especially in the six countries which contribute to 82 percent of total under-5 deaths. As a result, the region is unlikely to achieve the targets set for MDGs 4 and 5 by 2015 unless intensive and accelerated progress is made.

The Regional Committee will also be discussing the progress made in the development of core capacities for implementing the International Health Regulations (2005) in member states. The regulations are intended to rapidly identify and stop the emergence and spread of public health risks including emergency events.

More work is needed by countries across the region in the areas relating to mapping out of priority health risks and resources, effective response at points of entry, and mechanisms for the detection, alert and response to chemical emergencies.

Members of the Regional Committee will also review the annual report of the regional director on the work of WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, which highlights the collaborative work of the regional office and member states in 2012.