February 2025 Esteemed Chair, Your Excellencies, Director-General, Ours is the only remaining WHO region with endemic wild poliovirus. We have an immense responsibility, which the region has accepted with confidence and commitment. As 2024 began, we were on the verge of eradicating wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last two polio-endemic countries. But then came a resurgence, alongside outbreaks of variant poliovirus in Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and the Gaza Strip. I was privileged to visit Afghanistan and Pakistan twice last year. I saw amazing work by frontline health workers. We need to strengthen their capacities so they can do even more. Our strategy remains straightforward: vaccinate every child and keep up a robust search for poliovirus, to stop further spread. Achieving this is far from simple. Afghanistan and Pakistan face immense geopolitical, infrastructural, environmental and security challenges. But none of these challenges is insurmountable. In Gaza, during a humanitarian pause last year, over 560, 000 children were vaccinated against polio – thanks to WHO led multi-actor, multi-level coordination and the courage of communities and health workers. If we did it in Gaza, we can do it anywhere. Member States asked last evening about cooperation among countries. Our Region leads the way. The Ministerial Regional Subcommittee for Polio Eradication and Outbreaks, which I convene and is cochaired by Qatar and UAE, has united the region in solidarity, collective action and mutual support. WHO is convening the Health Dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan to ensure the essential cooperation for the two countries to achieve polio eradication concurrently while addressing their broader health needs. I have set the gears for polio eradication that have fully engaged WHO country representatives and their teams and WHO Headquarters. Dr. Tedros and I have joined forces to address the most difficult challenges. We are in complete sync with our GPEI partners, my visits to endemic countries and donor engagements are with the Chair of the Polio Oversight Board and my UNICEF counterpart. Rotary remains a steadfast partner and leader. The disengagement of CDC and USAID is costing us already with loss of their technical, strategic and financial support. In financial terms this means a loss of $133 million to the GPEI, a loss of $100 million for WHO each year. The GPEI overall faces a funding shortfall of $2.4 billion for its current plan that is extended up to 2029. We are extremely appreciative of the timely $500 million pledge by Saudi Arabia at this crucial stage of the eradication effort with diminishing resources. We our doing our part. We need the international community’s steadfast support to help us across the finish line. Let us make sure every last child is vaccinated. Only then will polio be eradicated.