In a comment published in The Lancet on 31 January 2014, the Regional Director of WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ala Alwan and WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Polio and Emergencies Bruce Aylward responded to recent allegations that UN agencies including WHO have blocked vaccination campaigns and obstructed the testing of polio samples.
Outlining the actions which have been taken by WHO and other agencies to address the rising threat of polio in the Middle East, Alwan and Aylward state that, “Fully implementing this response plan has required overcoming immense hurdles to reach every child amid the wreckage of Syria’s public infrastructure and health system, the active conflict and insecurity, the dearth of trust, and one of the largest refugee crises since the second World War.”
Read WHO's response in The Lancet
In a comment published in The Lancet on 31 January 2014, the Regional Director of WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ala Alwan and WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Polio and Emergencies Bruce Aylward responded to recent allegations that UN agencies including WHO have blocked vaccination campaigns and obstructed the testing of polio samples.
Outlining the actions which have been taken by WHO and other agencies to address the rising threat of polio in the Middle East, Alwan and Aylward state that, “Fully implementing this response plan has required overcoming immense hurdles to reach every child amid the wreckage of Syria’s public infrastructure and health system, the active conflict and insecurity, the dearth of trust, and one of the largest refugee crises since the second World War.”
Read WHO's response in The Lancet
