Iraq, the first country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to complete polio transition, is demonstrating how decades of investment in polio eradication can create lasting national health capacity.
Speaking during the virtual week ahead of the 73rd session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, delegates from Iraq shared lessons from their transition for other Member States’ use.
Completed in January 2024 with WHO support, the transition involved integrating polio assets – including surveillance, laboratory capacity, community engagement and outbreak response – into the national health system. Domestic resources now sustain these functions.
“For Iraq, this transition represents much more than the end of external financing for a disease-specific programme,” said Dr Hani Moussa Badr Al-Aqabi, Technical Deputy of the Ministry of Health, while reiterating the government’s resolute commitment to sustaining its polio-free status. “It represents a strong decision by the Government of Iraq to preserve the knowledge, people, systems and infrastructure built through decades of polio eradication efforts and integrate these assets into a stronger, more sustainable national health system.”
