The World Health Organization (WHO) has praised the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention for its nationwide polio vaccination program and its contributions to the global movement aimed at eradicating the disease. Reinforcing the local health care sector is one of the top priorities of the UAE Government as part of its quest to achieve sustainable development, construction process and promoting social stability for all citizens and residents. 

The WHO also noted in its report received by the Ministry that the UAE’s cooperation over the past years has helped fight and control the spread of the disease globally by providing the necessary vaccines and monitor its deployment.

H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE's Armed Forces, plays an important role in the global fight against polio after calling on the international community to work together to build a world free of polio. The move has shown the commitment of the UAE leadership to help address global health challenges.

Since the registration of the last polio case for more than 20 years, the government reaffirmed its support for the development of the Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance. The UAE has been declared polio-free by the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean States since 2007, in addition to the Ministry’s effort to monitor cases of acute flaccid paralysis as a basic competency index.