External threats, internal challenges loom as NATO holds 75th anniversary summit

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Updated 11 July 2024
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External threats, internal challenges loom as NATO holds 75th anniversary summit

  • Event in Washington, D.C. runs from July 9 to 11 and is being attended by 32 world leaders and dozens of other officials
  • Main tasks for NATO members include support for Ukraine, investments in their own defense and deterrence capabilities

WASHINGTON:  In an important milestone of transatlantic security, President Biden Joe Biden is hosting 38 heads of delegation in the US capital this week for a historic summit to mark the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding.

Converging on the city are the leaders of 32 NATO members, with Sweden joining for the first time, as well as partners including Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Australia and the EU. Large numbers of senior officials, foreign ministers, defense ministers and cabinet officials from NATO partners around the world will also attend.

The summit will commemorate the world’s most successful alliance, established in 1949 during the early days of the Cold War, and whose enduring existence has defied skeptics for decades.

NATO’s significance was renewed and underscored two-and-a-half years ago by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which analysts say has profoundly challenged the so-called international rules-based order, posing one of the most significant threats to transatlantic security in decades.

But beyond its officials’ assurances, NATO faces uncertainty about its future. External threats contribute a part, yet the primary concern stems from internal turmoil that could follow if NATO skeptics, such as Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally, assume power in 2024 and 2027, respectively.

Trump personifies the tension between European allies and the US that was there from the beginning. As one observer put it: Americans seemed to be from Mars, Europeans from Venus.




Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Doral, Florida, on July 9, 2024. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron recently has said that the alliance “only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as such. I’d argue that we should reassess the reality of what NATO is in the light of the commitment of the United States.” The US, in his view, shows signs of “turning its back on us,” as it demonstrated with its unexpected troop withdrawal in October 2019 from northeastern Syria, abandoning its Kurdish allies.

The official language of the Biden administration and NATO officials project an image of an alliance that is — in the words of Ambassador Michael Carpenter, special assistant to the president — “larger, stronger, better resourced, and more united than ever before.”

While US news media continue to focus on Biden’s fitness and ability to handle an event like the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding, both US administration and NATO officials have nimbly sidestepped questions regarding the president’s health.

The “most urgent task” at the summit, according to NATO’s chief, will be support to Ukraine. Allies will unveil substantial new measures to assist the war-ravaged country.

These include stepping up security assistance and training, with a large command center in Germany; a financial pledge of $43 billion; further air defense systems and ammunition; and showcasing backing for Kyiv as it progresses toward NATO membership.

“This will not make NATO a party to the conflict,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general. “But it will enhance Ukraine’s self-defense.”

He added: “Ukraine must prevail … they need our sustained support.”

Carpenter, the senior US diplomat, said: “Together, the Washington summit will send a strong signal to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that if he thinks he can outlast the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine, he is dead wrong.”




Russia's President Vladimir Putin and foreign leaders lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. (Sputnik/Pool/AFP)

NATO will use the summit to highlight significant investments in its own defense and deterrence capabilities.

In 2020, only nine NATO members spent at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, a benchmark first set almost a decade ago. Today, a record 23 NATO members are at, or above, the minimum level of 2 percent of GDP for defense spending.

“Since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine began in 2014, NATO has fundamentally transformed,” said Stoltenberg.

“Defense spending across European allies and Canada is up 18 percent this year alone, the biggest increase in decades. Allies are taking burden-sharing seriously.

“Today, we have 500,000 troops on high readiness; combat-ready battlegroups in the eastern part of the alliance for the first time; more high-end capabilities, including fifth-generation aircraft; and two highly committed new members, Finland and Sweden.”

 

 

What Ukraine has also demonstrated, according to Stoltenberg, is the global dimension of the alliance’s security, with “Iran and North Korea (fueling) Russia’s war with drones and shells,” and “China propping up Russia’s war economy.”He added: “The closer that authoritarian actors align, the more important it is that we work closely with our friends in the Indo-Pacific.”

Deepening NATO’s global partnerships is the third goal of the summit. For that purpose, Stoltenberg has invited leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea to Washington.

“Standing up to authoritarian actors with our partners helps to uphold the rules-based international order,” he said.




NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference during NATO's 75th anniversary summit in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2024. (REUTERS)

Partnership with Middle East and North Africa countries will also be addressed in meetings and bilateral talks, including the NATO Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and includes UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar; and the Mediterranean Dialogue, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year as a partnership forum for promoting security and stability in the region, with participating countries including Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Carpenter said: “When it comes to the Middle East, I’m sure there’s going to be a range of discussions, including bilateral meetings on the margins of the summit, where this will come up. 

“The Middle East is not Euro-Atlantic territory, but obviously it impinges on the security of the Euro-Atlantic region. So, what’s happening now in the Middle East is, of course, of concern to all NATO leaders.”




The NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Regional Center in Kuwait City, which was inaugurated on January 23,2017. (AFP)

Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, lamented the fact that neither the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative nor the Mediterranean Dialogue have been used to their full potential.

“I’m a bit disappointed that NATO hasn’t made a bigger deal out of the 20th anniversary of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (and) the 30th anniversary of the Mediterranean dialogue, which covers more of NATO’s relations with the Levant and North Africa,” he told Arab News.

“These are important milestones, and both of these platforms have been useful in the past in allowing NATO to engage with the broader community in the region,” he added.

“It would be very good to hold a NATO meeting at the heads of state, heads of government level, for the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. I know it would be very difficult to do. Someone should have thought of this earlier. But let’s make a big deal out of this anniversary.




Spanish, German and Dutch soldiers take part in a NATO military exercise in Romania on May 14, 2024. (AFP)

“NATO should make it very clear to the countries, especially in the Gulf, that if you’re not part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, the door is open. Nobody, of course, is talking about membership for NATO or anything like this. This is ridiculous, but adding new members to the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative would be a positive thing, I think, for the alliance.”

The NATO-MENA security overlap, according to Coffey, includes concerns such as counterterrorism, and Iran’s missile and drone proliferation. He believes NATO should collaborate more deeply with MENA nations, starting with missile and air defense.

“From a European point of view, often many of the challenges that are in the Middle East find their way into Europe over time. So, it benefits Europe, and especially NATO, to work with countries in the Middle East to help them address their own security concerns.”

INNUMBERS

INNUMBERS 32 Members of NATO military alliance.

7 Canada’s rank in amount of money spent on defense.

3.5% Share of US GDP spent on military.

Coffey said Stoltenberg’s visit to Saudi Arabia in December last year was a step in the right direction “that would maybe get (the Kingdom) inside the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

“Saudi Arabia is the dominant power on the Arabian Peninsula, and it shares many of the same security challenges that we have in NATO, such as, the proliferation of ballistic missiles and drones and the Iranian threat,” he said.

“So, it makes sense that NATO cooperates with Saudi Arabia whenever possible, and we have a platform in NATO to engage with countries like Saudi Arabia. So, let’s get Saudi Arabia inside of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.

“If they want to. NATO also has to be careful to make sure that we go at the speed and the comfort level of engagement of the Gulf states. We shouldn’t try forcing anything onto the region, but we should always make clear that NATO is open for deeper cooperation if there’s a willingness.”
 

 


Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary

Updated 9 sec ago
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Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary

  • The appointment was a reward for RFK's abandoning his presidential bid and supported Trump
  • Trump's choice of the prominent anti-vaccine activist alarms health leaders 

NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting a man whose views public health officials have decried as dangerous in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “end the Chronic Disease epidemic” and “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Kennedy is one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the world and has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism and other health issues.
Hailing from one of the nation’s most storied political families, Kennedy is the son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He first challenged President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination last year. He then ran as an independent before abandoning his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role overseeing health policy in a second Trump administration.
He and the president-elect have since become good friends. The two campaigned together extensively during the race’s final stretch, and Trump had made clear he intended to give Kennedy a major role overseeing public health as part of a campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.”
“I’m going to let him go wild on health,” Trump said at a rally last month.
During his victory speech in Palm Beach, Florida, last week, Trump exclaimed, “Go have a good time, Bobby!”
Still, it was unclear precisely what job he would be offered. In an October interview on CNN, Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick assured there was no way Kennedy would receive the job he got.
The appointment drew alarms from public health experts.
“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is not remotely qualified for the role and should be nowhere near the science-based agencies that safeguard our nutrition, food safety, and health,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the public health watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press, “I don’t want to go backwards and see children or adults suffer or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines work, and so I am concerned.”
“Any misinformation coming from places of influence, of power, are concerning,” she said.
During the campaign, Kennedy told NewsNation that Trump had asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.
Kennedy has pushed against processed foods and the use of herbicides like Roundup weed killer. He has long criticized the large commercial farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the industry.
But he is perhaps best known for his criticism of childhood vaccines.
Again and again, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, he said in a podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and told FOX News that he still believes in the long-ago debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism.
In a 2021 podcast he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines that advise when kids should receive routine vaccinations.
“I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, ‘Better not get them vaccinated,’” Kennedy said.
Repeated scientific studies in the US and abroad have found no link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines have been proven safe and effective in laboratory testing and in real world use in hundreds of millions of people over decades. The World Health Organization credits childhood vaccines with preventing as many as 5 million deaths a year
Trump during his first term launched Operation Warp Speed, an effort to speed the production and distribution of a vaccine to combat COVID-19. The resulting vaccines were widely credited, including by Trump himself, with saving many lives.
Trump, in his announcement, said that, under Kennedy, HHS would “play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.” But HHS does not have jurisdiction over many of those issues, which fall under the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture.
Kennedy is an attorney who has built a loyal following over several decades of people who admire his lawsuits against major pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in foods.
With the Trump campaign, he worked to shore up support among young mothers in particular, with his message of making food more healthful in the US, promising to model regulations after those imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s original campaign slogan, he named the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”
It remains unclear how that will square with Trump’s history of deregulation of big industries, including food. Trump has pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines raises question about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate.
He also has said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water, although fluoride levels are mandated by state and local governments. The addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health and is considered safe at low levels.
He has said he would seek to ban certain food additives, cracking down on substances such as food dyes and preservatives, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. He has also targeted pesticides, which are jointly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the FDA.
Kennedy has also drawn headlines for his history with wild animals. He admitted to dumping a dead bear in New York’s Central Park — placing it as though it had been hit by a bike — and found himself the subject of a federal probe after his daughter revealed that he had cut off a beached whale’s head and strapped it to the roof of his car to take home.
HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. Kennedy has promised to take a serious look at those who work for HHS and its agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the CDC.
He has said he is especially focused on putting an end to the “revolving door” of employees who have previous history working for pharmaceutical companies or leave government service to work for that industry, his former campaign communications manager, Del Bigtree, told the AP last month. Bigtree is also an anti-vaccine organizer.
Kennedy said he wanted to fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, which oversees vaccine research.
The expected appointment was first reported by Politico Thursday.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
Trump also announced Thursday that he will nominate Jay Clayton, who served as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission during his first term, to serve as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
 


Senegal heads to the polls amid fiscal crisis, threat of unrest

Updated 14 November 2024
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Senegal heads to the polls amid fiscal crisis, threat of unrest

DAKAR: Senegal will vote in legislative elections on Sunday to determine whether the new president and government can gain control over the national assembly and push through their reform agenda.
The high stakes in the election threaten to spark renewed unrest following a period of calm.
The run-up to the presidential election in March saw some of the worst violence in the country’s recent history.
Campaigning has grown heated recently and comes at a precarious time for the new government.
It is navigating a spiraling fiscal crisis that could undermine its ability to deliver on promises to boost the economy and create jobs.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, known for his fiery rhetoric, said this week that his supporters had come under attack and urged them to take revenge.
He has also warned that restraint should not be mistaken for weakness.
“Let them not say that we’ve changed and that since we came, everyone can do as they please,” he said on Tuesday evening.
“We could have used our strength, but we didn’t.”
Top priorities for Senegalese voters are jobs and the economy, as inflation has squeezed livelihoods and the nation’s growing youth population struggles to find employment.
More than 7 million registered voters can vote for candidates for the 165-seat assembly, choosing between 41 registered parties or other entities. Polls open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.
“We want a lower cost of living, affordable water, electricity, and transport, so everyone can work and live decently,” said Cheikh Diagne, a street seller in downtown Dakar.
Babacar Ndiaye, research director at the think tank WATHI, said that Senegalese have historically favored the president during previous parliamentary elections.
“When they choose a president, they give that president the means to work and govern,” he said.
“Every time a president has won, he has also gained an absolute majority in the National Assembly.”
The West African country is plunging toward a debt crisis after the new government said it had discovered the budget deficit was much wider than reported by the previous government.
A $1.9 billion IMF program is on hold while the government audit is reviewed.
The main threat to the ruling party Pastef’s ambitions is the unexpected alliance of two opposition parties, including the Republic party headed by former Prime Minister Macky Sall.
The race also includes two smaller opposition coalitions.
The one led by Dakar’s mayor, Barthelemy Dias, has clashed with supporters of Pastef.
Mariam Wane Ly, a former parliamentarian and trailblazer for women in politics in Senegal, said the campaign period had given leaders a chance to explain their agendas.
She expected Pastef to win the majority it seeks.
“I think it’s going to make up for all the unhappiness,” she said.


Brother of late Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed also accused of sexual violence: BBC

Justice for Harrods Survivors group said it had received more than 420 inquiries, mainly related to the store. (File/AFP)
Updated 14 November 2024
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Brother of late Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed also accused of sexual violence: BBC

  • Three women say the late Salah Fayed assaulted them during the period when he jointly owned the department store with his brother, the broadcaster said

LONDON: Three women formerly employed by Harrods have accused the brother of its late boss Mohamed Al-Fayed of sexual violence, following hundreds of similar claims against the former owner of the luxury London store, the BBC reported Thursday.
They say the late Salah Fayed assaulted them during the period when he jointly owned the department store with his brother, the broadcaster said.
The women alleged they were abused in London, the south of France and Monaco between 1989 and 1997.
The report follows a slew of claims in recent weeks by hundreds of women against the Egyptian former Harrods and Fulham Football Club owner Mohamed Al-Fayed of sexual assault including rape.
Salah Fayed died in 2010 and Mohamed Al-Fayed died last year aged 94.
One of the three women behind the most recent accusations, named Helen, who waived her right to anonymity, told the BBC that she had been working for the retailer for two years when Mohamed Al-Fayed raped her in 1989 during a business trip in Dubai.
He then offered her a personal assistant job with his brother Salah, who she said went on to drug her and rape her while she was unconscious.
Mohamed Al-Fayed “shared me with his brother,” she said.
She said she had stayed silent about the experience, having signed a non-disclosure agreement, a document the BBC reported having seen.
The second woman said Salah Fayed abused her during a trip to Monaco, while the third woman, who was hired at the age of 19 in 1997, said she was sexually assaulted in his Monaco apartment.
Contacted by AFP, Harrods said it “supports the bravery of these women in coming forward” and encourages survivors “to come forward and make their claims” to the company, which is offering compensation and counselling support.
“We also hope that they are looking at every appropriate avenue to them in their pursuit of justice, whether that be Harrods, the police or the Fayed family and estate,” the company said.
On Tuesday, the New York Times published the claims of a victim accusing another brother of Mohamed Al-Fayed, Ali, aged 80, of knowing about the “trafficking” of women.
Allegations have mounted since the airing of a BBC documentary in September that detailed multiple claims of rape and sexual assault by Mohamed Al-Fayed.
The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said it had received more than 420 inquiries, mainly related to the store but also regarding Fulham Football Club, the Ritz Hotel in Paris and other Fayed entities.
London’s Metropolitan Police said earlier this month that it was “actively reviewing 21 allegations reported to the Metropolitan Police prior to Mohamed Al-Fayed’s passing... to determine if any additional investigative steps are available or there are things we could have done better.”


Democrats in Congress urge Biden to sanction Israelis over West Bank violence

Updated 14 November 2024
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Democrats in Congress urge Biden to sanction Israelis over West Bank violence

  • “We write to express our deep concern about the rise in settler violence, settlement expansion, and measures adopted to weaken the Palestinian Authority,” said the letter
  • The letter, signed by 17 senators and 71 House members, said Israeli settlers have carried out over 1,270 recorded attacks against Palestinians

WASHINGTON: Nearly 90 Democratic lawmakers urged US President Joe Biden to sanction members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over anti-Palestinian violence in the West Bank, according to a letter released on Thursday.
Urging Biden to send a message to US partners before he leaves office, the members of Congress said Israeli cabinet members Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had incited violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied territory.
“We write to express our deep concern about the rise in settler violence, settlement expansion, and measures adopted to weaken the Palestinian Authority and otherwise destabilize the West Bank,” they said in the letter.
The letter, signed by 17 senators and 71 House members, said Israeli settlers have carried out over 1,270 recorded attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, averaging more than three violent attacks per day.
The letter was dated Oct. 29 but made public on Thursday because the lawmakers had not had a response from the White House, three of the members of Congress said.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Democratic House of Representatives members Rosa DeLauro and Sean Casten, who are leading the letter effort, told reporters that Biden has the authority to impose sanctions under an existing executive order.
Doing so would send a message not just to Israel and the Palestinians, but also to US allies elsewhere in the world, that the United States will push back on humanitarian issues, they said.
“We think it’s more important than ever that President Biden right now states that the United States is not going to be a rubber stamp to the Netanyahu government’s extreme actions,” Van Hollen said.
Spokespeople for the White House and Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The United States has for decades backed a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and urged Israel not to expand settlements.
The West Bank is among territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and where Palestinians, with international support, seek statehood. Most world powers deem Israeli settlements in the area illegal. Israel disputes that, citing historical claims to the West Bank and describing it as a security bulwark.
Netanyahu and his allies celebrated the re-election this month of Donald Trump, a staunch but sometimes unpredictable ally of Israel. In his first term the Republican president-elect delivered major wins for the Israeli leader. Additionally, Smotrich, who also wields a defense ministry supervisory role for settlers as part of his coalition deal with Netanyahu, said this week he hoped Israel would extend sovereignty into the occupied West Bank in 2025 and that he would push the government to engage the incoming Trump administration to gain Washington’s support.


Measles cases surge 20 percent, global study shows

Updated 14 November 2024
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Measles cases surge 20 percent, global study shows

  • “Measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
  • “We must invest in immunization for every person, no matter where they live“

GENEVA: Measles infections soared by a fifth last year to over 10 million cases globally, revealing alarming gaps in vaccine coverage, a study showed Thursday.
Worldwide, there were an estimated 10.3 million measles cases in 2023, according to a joint publication by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That marked a 20-percent increase from 2022, the study showed, saying that “inadequate immunization coverage globally is driving the surge in cases.”
Measles is one of the world’s most infectious diseases. At least 95-percent coverage with two doses of the measles/rubella vaccine is needed to prevent outbreaks.
But in 2023, only 83 percent of children worldwide received their first dose of the measles vaccine through routine health services — the same level as in 2022 but down from 86 percent before the pandemic.
Only 74 percent received their second dose last year, the study showed.
“Measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement.
“To save even more lives and stop this deadly virus from harming the most vulnerable, we must invest in immunization for every person, no matter where they live.”
CDC director Mandy Cohen said: “The measles vaccine is our best protection against the virus, and we must continue to invest in efforts to increase access.”
As a result of global gaps in vaccination coverage, 57 countries experienced large and disruptive measles outbreaks in 2023, up from 36 countries a year earlier, the study showed.
All regions except the Americas were impacted, it said, with nearly half of all large and disruptive outbreaks occurring in the African region.
The virus that can cause a rash, fever and flu-like symptoms but also particularly severe complications in young children is estimated to have killed 107,500 people in 2023, most of them under the age of five.
This marks an eight-percent decrease from the previous year.
The agencies explained that the decline was mainly due to the fact that the surge in cases occurred in countries and regions where children with measles were less likely to die, due to better nutritional status and access to health services.
“Far too many children are still dying from this preventable disease,” they said.
The agencies cautioned that a global target of eliminating measles as an endemic threat by 2030 was “under threat.”
By the end of last year, 82 countries had achieved or maintained measles elimination.
After Brazil this week reverified having eliminated measles, WHO’s Americas region is once again considered free of endemic measles.
All regions, with the exception of Africa, meanwhile count at least one country that has eliminated the disease.
The agencies called for urgent and targeted efforts to ensure all children are reached with two vaccine doses, especially in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions and in fragile and conflict-affected areas.
“This requires achieving and maintaining high-performing routine immunization programs and delivering high-quality, high-coverage campaigns when those programs are not yet sufficient to protect every child,” they said.