POLIO LETTERS TO GCC HEALTH MINISTERS

UNCLAS STATE 010130


FOR ESTH OFFICERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV GCC
SUBJECT: POLIO LETTERS TO GCC HEALTH MINISTERS


1. This is an urgent action request. As follow-up to to
last week's visit to GCC capitals by a State/USAID/CDC team
in furtherance of the U.S./OIC polio eradication initiative,
Posts are requested to send the following letter from
Ambassadors to host country health ministers as quickly as
possible. The Ministers are meeting February 2-3 in Abu
Dhabi and agreed to add polio to their agenda. A positive
statement on polio from the Ministers would be an important
step for the initiative. Contacts in several capitals asked
for such a letter, and in the interest of time Posts should
send the letter electronically as well as in hard copy form.
Posts are also requested to deliver copies of the letter to
foreign ministries and to other host government officials who
met with the polio team. Jeddah is requested to pass the text
of the letter to OIC officials with a request that the OIC
send similar letters to the GCC Ministers.


2. Begin text

(Salutation)

I write in support of the joint initiative by the United
States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
for the final eradication of polio, one of the commitments
announced in President Obama's Cairo speech last year. Polio
remains endemic in three OIC member States (Afghanistan,
Nigeria, Pakistan) and has reinfected a number of other OIC
members which were previously polio-free. Since 1988 the WHO
has led the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the
support of many countries, including (host country),which
has succeeded in reducing the number of polio cases worldwide
by 99 percent.

The challenge of eliminating the final one percent of polio
cases will be the most difficult of all. The remaining
polio-infected areas are beset by conflict and poverty, and
local capacity to confront this disease is often weak. The
rapid return of polio into previously polio-free countries
shows the danger of failing to eradicate it. The only way to
control polio is to eliminate it completely. We have the
technical means to do so; what is needed now is renewed
political will and the necessary resources.

The GCC and its Member States, as an influential group within
the OIC, and an important group of States in its own right,
is uniquely positioned to respond through diplomatic
measures, technical and in-kind assistance, and by working
through international Islamic institutions such as the
Islamic Development Bank and Islamic funds and charities.
Polio eradication is an opportunity for the GCC and its
Member States to have an immediate impact on an humanitarian
issue of global importance that has significant consequences
for the Muslim community.

The GCC Health Ministers meeting in Abu Dhabi offers an
opening to take an important step in this direction. I urge
you and your fellow Ministers to issue a clear statement of
support and commitment for the OIC polio campaign and the
Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

End text.


3. Department thanks Posts for taking immediate action on
this request. Department contact is Edwin Brown, OES/IHB,
202-647-3649.


CLINTON