Geneva: The UAE reiterated its commitment to eliminating preventable diseases among the world’s poorest communities, during a event to mark World Polio Day at the World Health Organisation headquarters in Geneva on Thursday.

Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, renewed the UAE’s commitment to supporting the biennial Reaching the Last Mile Forum, which will be held in Abu Dhabi on November 19 under the theme ‘Accelerating the Pace’. This years forum will bring together 250 high level guests to discuss reaching the last mile of disease elimination. Several major announcements and donor pledges to the Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023 will also be announced. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has pledged more than US$167 million for polio eradication through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.