Regional eradication follows decades of work

Members came from research institutions, regulators, traditional medicine programmes and civil society across the region.

Regional director Matshidiso Moeti said that research into potential traditional COVID-19 therapies needed a scientific foundation.

An independent commission certified interruption of indigenous wild poliovirus transmission in the region.

Health workers and communities sustained immunization and surveillance across countries.

The achievement did not eliminate vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks.

A regional expert panel endorsed a phase III clinical trial protocol for candidate herbal products against COVID-19, without approving a product.

The panel also endorsed terms of reference for a data and safety monitoring board to review participant safety during trials.

The agreed protocol was intended to help African scientists generate comparable evidence under international clinical research standards.

Its endorsement applied to methods for testing potential therapies; safety and effectiveness remained to be established by research.

The global plan set vaccination, screening and treatment targets for 2030.