Regional Director’s Speech during 9th Meeting of the WHO SEAR Verification Commission for Measles & Rubella Elimination, Kathmandu, Nepal

-       Chair and Members of the Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination

-       Chair and representatives of National Verification Committees for measles and rubella elimination

-       National EPI programme managers and officers from Thailand

-       Representatives of Partner Agencies

-       Colleagues from WHO HQ, Regional & Country Offices;

Good morning and welcome to this ninth meeting of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination.

I would like to start by commending our distinguished audience here on your commitment to achieving our target of eliminating measles and rubella in all the countries, and all the areas, of our broad and diverse region.

Measles and rubella elimination is a priority for us because it is one of the most effective interventions, and also has the highest return on investment.

Measles is an indicator of equity, and a proxy for the maturity of immunization systems. It is, by extension, a proxy indicator of the strength of the primary health care system in a country.

Five countries in our region verified having eliminated measles and rubella. This is a testimony to the fact that we have time-tested effective tools and strategies. It is also a demonstration of the commitment of the teams involved, from a national level to every individual in the community.

In fifty years of immunization what we have achieved is outstanding. A recent study published in Lancet [1] concluded that in the last five decades, in our region alone, 38 million deaths were averted by vaccination. Measles vaccination alone contributed to averting 54% of these deaths across all age groups. Since the turn of the millennium, our region has reduced mortality due to measles by 95%.

These are tremendous achievements.

But let us be candid: we have missed the target date of 2023 for the goal of eliminating measles and rubella in our region.

Today, I urge this commission to identify and define the determinants of this failure. I ask you to provide guidance on generating better evidence to measure progress towards measles and rubella elimination.

I urge the National Verification Committees in all our countries to help generate evidence and strengthen data collection and analysis. This is essential to understand who is missing out on vaccinations, and why.

All of us to need to be champions in our respective countries for the agenda of measles and rubella elimination, and we must continue to make the case for increased investments in this agenda.

Everyone in this room and beyond should be champions of immunization. Immunization protects. It lets children survive and helps them develop both physically and mentally.

I thus urge each of you, and your networks, to support National Immunization Programs. Advocate for national commitments to achieve measles and rubella elimination and help this cascade down to the lowest administrative and political levels. Help build community-level accountability mechanisms to ensure community participation. Support to immunization programs to achieve their goals and help ensure every child is protected from preventable illness.

Chair and members, representatives, partners, colleagues and friends,

Our region accounts for 24% of all infants in the world. What we achieve, the world achieves. Our success will be humanity’s success.

I wish you a productive meeting and look forward to our journey towards a region and world in which everyone, everywhere, at all ages, fully benefits from vaccines for good health and well-being.

I look forward to being appraised of the outcome of this meeting.

Thank you.