AFR/RC16/R7:
The Regional Committee,
The Word Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa, meeting at Kinshasa for its sixteenth session,
Having considered the report of the Regional Director on the smallpox eradication programme in the African Region,
Considering that smallpox still constitutes a serious public health problem throughout the world and particularly in Africa, where it is the cause of considerable human and economic losses,
Noting the progressively increasing efforts exerted by the Regional Office,
Considering that in the African Region there exist several laboratories in a position to manufacture liquid and freeze-dried vaccine,
Referring to resolution WHA19.16, and in particular to its operative paragraphs 1 and 4, 1. NOTES the efforts undertaken in the field of smallpox control,
2. EXPRESSES the hope that as from 1967 there will be a rapid increase in the regular budget and supplementary allocations devoted to this programme,
3. RECOMMENDS
(a) that the Regional Director actively pursue his efforts to accelerate, in Africa, the manufacture of freeze-dried vaccine conforming to WHO standards;
(b) that institutes and laboratories located in the African Region and having their headquarters their be given priority as a source of vaccine for the eradication campaigns of Member States and be eligible, as such, for all the technical and financial aid they required;
(c) that surveillance measures be instituted by mutual agreement between neighbouring countries so as to prevent the importation of cases of smallpox from on state into another;
(d) that eradication programme be very carefully studies, planned, and o-ordinated between states with common frontiers, and
4. STRESSES in particular the importance of and need for objective evaluation of eradication campaigns and the maintenance of effective long-term surveillance.
September 1966, 16, 7
