Xinhua interviews Elizabeth Hoff, the WHO representative in Syria, about efforts to stop the spread of polio in the country, noting, “Recent cases of polio infections among Syrian children have prompted the [WHO] and the Syrian Ministry of Health to join forces to fight the outbreak of the viral disease.” According to the news service, “She attributed the outbreak of polio in Syria, which had been polio-free since 1995, to the long-standing conflict gripping the nation,” and she said that while a wide-scale vaccination campaign launched on October 24 in cooperation with the UNICEF and the WHO “was well-received, … to fully rid Syria of the virus, six additional campaigns with four-week intervals are being planned” (11/20).