Eastern Mediterranean Programme Review Group

EMRO has three main endemic countries; Sudan , Egypt and Yemen .

Egypt : It was one of the first countries to start the MDA program at 2000 where 2.6 million Egyptians were covered. Most of them are living in the Nile Delta of Egypt. MDA coverage in Egypt was always above 80% due to the good health infrastructure. All the 181 villages covered with MDA were evaluated by mf and ICT cards for the children. That is why although most of the villages were legible to stop the MDA, still some villages are to be covered for the 7 th MDA round. Egypt is now in the mop out phase to get rid of the filariasis. New villages discovered for MDA as well as those not yet met the elimination criteria will be covered with MDA during 2007. Egypt adopted to cover the newly discovered villages (with ICT prevalence above 1%) twice a year.

Yemen : All the endemic areas in Yemen (9 districts) were covered with MDA for the fifth annual round during 2006. The total population of these areas was 111,036. The mean coverage was 86%. All Yemen areas except Socotra Island (2 districts) became mf free. ICT cards for kids are also all negative except in Socotra island. Yemen is planning to keep monotroing the free areas. Same time Socotra island (mf prevalence 2.4%) will be covered with a 6 th round of MDA during 2007.

Sudan : It is the main challenge in the EMRO. More than 90% of the filariasis cases of the EMRO are living in Sudan . Sudan was unable to finish the mapping and to stat the MDA program for elimination of lymphatic filariasis because of the war there. Although of war mapping has been done is many areas in Sudan . None of the examined areas were negative. This would raise the suggestion that all Sudanese are living in filariasis endemic areas.

WHO is now supporting two offices in Sudan one in the North in Khartoum and the other is in the South in Juba .

South Sudan consists of 10 states. County is the implementation unit in the south which is the same as Locality in North Sudan . There are still certain transional areas under the presidency and not related to any of the South or North Sudan . 12 counties reviewed blood and serological surveys done by the Federal team and 6 counties were done by Questionnaire. South Sudan is planning to complete mapping through questionnaire during the year 2007. Mean while South Sudan is planning to have a pilot MDA survey in any of the oncho co-endemic areas.

North Sudan did not finish mapping as well. All the non mapped areas be mapped during 2007 either with ICT or questionnaire. Pilot MDA in the North Sudan is still postponed for the lack of integration with other running health programs.

Both North and South Sudan are in need for great support to finalize there programs.

Other suspected countries in the region are.

1. Saudi Arabia (specially the southern area).
2. Djibouti
3. Somalia
4. Pakistan
5. Afghanistan