AFRICA – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have received funding agreements from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) valued at US$10 million to further bolster polio and measles programmes in eight countries.
The cooperation agreement will strengthen global action to protect vulnerable children at increased risk from preventable childhood diseases and it affirms the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s dedication to saving lives and safeguarding futures.
The agreement signed on the sidelines of the World Health Summit in Berlin aims to provide UNICEF and WHO with US$5 million each in response to a call for emergency action by the United Nations (UN) agencies to avert major polio and measles epidemics.
“With this generous contribution from KSrelief, WHO will support the polio and measles programmes in Somalia, Iraq, and Sudan through the procurement of laboratory equipment, enhancing surveillance, digitalization of EPI, strengthening the cold chain and trainings of campaign vaccinators,” WHO said.
In addition, the UN agencies have urged countries to prioritize vaccination for children as they rebuild their immunization systems following major global immunization disruptions caused by COVID-19.
“The pandemic has left millions of vulnerable children at heightened risk of preventable childhood diseases. COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on immunisation services globally,” the World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out.
According to the specialized agency of the United Nations, KSrelief’s generous support will help WHO to save children’s lives, benefiting an estimated 50 million people and averting major outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
UNICEF will also support the five high-risk countries of Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and Pakistan with the procurement and in-country distribution of polio and measles vaccines .
Additionally, the UN agency will support the high-risk countries with the procurement of supplies like cold chain equipment and syringes, recruitment and training of vaccinators along with sustainably strengthening immunization systems.
“The pandemic disrupted routine immunization services around the world, leaving millions of vulnerable children at heightened risk of polio, measles and other preventable childhood diseases,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
She further said that the new agreement will translate into lives saved and stronger immunization systems that will benefit millions of children while emphasizing that African leaders can’t let COVID-19 drive new epidemics of childhood disease.
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