The World Health Organization is calling for a "zero-dose" vaccine for all children in its Eastern Mediterranean region by the end of next year, the BBC reports.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the plea in a New Year's message to health officials in the region, which accounts for 9% of the world's population but less than 2% of global health spending.
"Now is the time to rebuild better and fairer, drawing on all that we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic," he said, referring to the strain of bird flu that killed hundreds of thousands of people in 2015.
"We need both to focus on sustainable investments in health as part of the road towards the Sustainable Development Goals," Ghebreyesus said.
"Let us help the vulnerable, reach the unreached, increase awareness, engage community, vaccinating and establish peace for health."
(The WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region has the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world.)
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