Ninth meeting of SEA-RVC conducted on 23–25 September 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal

The Ninth Meeting of the SEA-RVC was held on 23-25 September 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal with key objective to review and verify progress made towards measles and rubella elimination by the countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region based on the Framework for Verification of Measles and Rubella Elimination published in February 2020.

The country progress reports on measles and rubella elimination, submitted by the national verification committees (NVCs) of nine Member States were reviewed. The country reports tracked the progress towards two essential criteria and five lines of evidence on measles and rubella elimination. In the absence of the annual progress report from the NVC of Myanmar, the Commission reviewed the progress reported by the WHO Country Office for Myanmar.

Based on careful review and interactions with representatives of the NVCs of the countries, the Commission verified that measles elimination was sustained in Bhutan, Maldives, and Timor-Leste and that rubella elimination was sustained in Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste. The commission verified re-established transmission of measles in Sri-Lanka and expressed concern on the ongoing measles transmission in the country. The classification of DPR Korea was pending in the absence of report to review. The Commission was under the impression that Nepal might have eliminated Rubella and classified the country as "Eliminated." The Commission categorized the remaining countries as "endemic" regarding measles and rubella transmission.

The SEA-RVC recognized the significant progress made in countries and acknowledges the catch-up and recovery activities conducted post- COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate progress towards measles and rubella elimination across the Region. The Commission also suggested several recommendations and actions for all countries to help develop evidence to verify measles and rubella elimination and its sustenance.

The Regional Verification Commission for measles and rubella (MR) elimination in the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEA-RVC) was established by the WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia in March 2016 to verify the progress towards MR elimination in the Region.