SESRIC received a delegation from the United States on 19 October 2010 at its headquarters to discuss possible means and ways of cooperation and collaboration on polio eradication and on mother and child health. The delegation consisted of Mr. Edwin Brown, Deputy Director at Office of International Health and Bio-defence of Department of State; Ms. Ellyn W. Ogden, Senior Technical Advisor for Health, USAID Worldwide Polio Eradication Coordinator; Mr. Ellias Durry, Global Immunization Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services and John C. Letvin, Economic Officer, United States Embassy in Ankara.

Mr. Brown made a brief introduction on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and on the OIC-US cooperation on mother and child health. Ms. Ogden and Mr. Durry explained in details the work and efforts undertaken by their institutions with respect to polio eradication issues. The team stressed the importance of the role of SESRIC in this regard and requested support in line with the mandates drawn up for the Centre.

Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Research Department at SESRIC, briefed the delegation on the statistical and research activities undertaken by the Centre, especially those related to health issues in the OIC Member Countries, and announced the the Centre’s willingness in considering new conceptual approaches on Polio eradication to be tackled in the studies related to this field and in the OIC Outlooks. Mr. Murat Ilkin and Mr. Nader Abdulhamid, researchers at SESRIC briefed the delegation on training and technical cooperation functions of the Centre, in particular, the Ibn Sina Programme for Health Capacity Building and OIC-VET Programme.

The two parties expressed their willingness to highly cooperate with each other and agreed on exchanging data and articles in this regard. They also agreed to strengthen communication and encourage dialogue in order to promote research joint ventures between them as well as advocate academic research through importing all possible services related to Polio Eradication.

OIC-US Cooperation on Mother and Child Health

The 1st Islamic Conference of Health Ministers, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in June 2007, adopted the Resolution No.KLOICHMC-1/2007/2.5 on Mother and Child Health. In pursuance of the Resolution, the OIC General Secretariat in collaboration with the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States prepared a project entitled “Reaching every Mother and Baby in the OIC with Emergency Care”. The OIC and the United States signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement on 1st December 2008 to implement the project.

After the 2nd Islamic Conference of Health Ministers, held in Tehran in 2009, the OIC General Secretariat established close contact with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Secretariat in Geneva and finalized a work programme to enhance collaboration on polio eradication for the year 2009 and beyond.

The 36th ICFM requested the OIC General Secretariat to fully implement the project entitled “Reaching Every Mother and Baby in the OIC with Emergency Care” under the Cooperation Framework Agreement signed by the OIC General Secretariat and the US on 1st December 2009. In 2009, the OIC Secretary General, the US State Department and the US Health and Human Services Department (DHHS) agreed to expedite the implementation of the Cooperation Framework Agreement. In August 2010, a delegation of USAID and US State Department visited the OIC Headquarters in Jeddah to discuss the implementation of US-OIC project on Mother Child Health.

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, in a speech he delivered in Cairo on 4 June 2009, committed to expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health in an action to be taken within the domain of Science and Technology.