Key Evidence: The latest International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization updated in 2005 contained several major changes compared to earlier versions. However, the need to report cases of cholera and yellow fever has remained along with an expansion of the concerned disease list. These diseases continue to be critical threats to national and international health security, making immunization against them a vital disease control approach.
Key Evidence: The development and successful implementation of a coordinated, multi-country plan in response to a wild polio outbreak in Syria and Iraq halted the outbreak within 6 months. The response, which involved strengthening acute flaccid paralysis surveillance and more than 70 synchronized mass polio vaccination campaigns in 8 Middle Eastern countries (reaching >27 million children), could serve as a model for responding to disease outbreaks in areas affected by conflict and political instability.
Key Evidence: Conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean Region impacted health infrastructure and compromised the success of the region’s measles elimination goal. At the same time that rates of migration and displacement skyrocketed, the number of measles cases in the region doubled, from 10,072 cases in 2010 to 20,898 in 2015.