The Ministry of Health (MOH) represented by the Directorate General for Disease Surveillance & Control (DGDSC) organized today Sunday the closing ceremony for the National Measles Immunization (NMI) Campaign that was run during May until September 2017. The closing ceremony was held under the auspices of H.E. Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Saidi, Minister of Health at the Crown Plaza hotel, with the attendance of high-ranking officials from A’shura Council and MOH. 

H.E. Dr. Mohammed Saif Al Hosni, MOH’s Undersecretary for Health Affairs, delivered the inaugural speech where he underlined the measles and rubella elimination Goal by 2020 set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). H.E. Dr. Al Hosni pointed out that this event is held in line with the 47 National Day celebration which makes it an addition to the outstanding achievements accomplished in the Sultanate, reflecting the union of the health system with the other and private sectors and the civil community.

The ceremony included a lecture that introduced the national measles elimination strategy and summary of the campaign given by Bader Al Rawahi, head of Immunization of the Department of Communicable Diseases, DGDSC. Al Rawahi emphasized that the Sultanate has implemented several strategies to achieve the goal which has resulted in reaching nearly zero local cases per a million case according to the WHO Measles Elimination standards. In addition, the central laboratory has been strengthened and equipped with the preeminent detectors and lab investigations.

H.E. Minister of Health announced afterwards the results of the campaign and the coverage percentage on the national level. The campaign covered 92% on the national level as the coverage for the Citizens reached 98%, and percentage for the residents reached 88%, taking into consideration the 2016 population of the targeted age group (20-35) is ( 1.808.107).

At the end of the ceremony, minister of Health honored the participating and supporting organizations for the Campaign.