Report on the 4th Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

The Regional Verification Commission (RVC) for Measles and Rubella Elimination in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) declared that measles and rubella have been eliminated in Bahran, Iran, Oman and Egypt.

RVC hosted the 4th regional meeting on 1 - 3 November 2022.

The meeting had three objectives, mainly focused around reviewing:  

- The progress reports on elimination status of measles and rubella for countries already verified by the RVC (Bahrain, Iran, and Oman)

- The second version of the primary verification report on elimination status of measles and rubella in Egypt

- The status of measles and rubella elimination in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Meeting participants included the National Verification Committees (NVCs), representatives of respective national immunisation programmes, the Director of department of communicable disease and IVP unit at EMRO, and WHO headquarters. 
 
Based on follow-up discussions with the NVC and country teams, the RVC members reached the consensus on elimination status of the following countries:

• Bahrain, Iran, and Oman sustained their elimination status for measles and rubella for the period of 2018 – 2020;
• Egypt interrupted endemic transmission of measles and rubella virus and accordingly verified that measles and rubella had been eliminated from the country for the period 2018 – 2021.

The RVC members congratulated the four countries and IVP Secretariat for the remarkable achievements demonstrated by the evidence, especially the as two most-populated countries in the region (Egypt and Iran) also faced the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and encouraged to all states maintain the status of measles and rubella elimination.