Polio eradication: Donors and partners pledge support till the very end

Islamabad

Appreciating Pakistan’s progress in the fight against polio, international donors and development partners vowed to stand with Pakistan till complete eradication of the disease. The pledge was reiterated during a quarterly briefing for the donor community here at the National Emergency Operations Centre on Friday.

After recording 20 polio cases in 2016, Pakistan has maintained the momentum in 2017, with the current case count of 2 comparing to 11 reported by this date in 2017. Reiterating the government’s commitment to polio eradication, the Prime Ministers Focal Person for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said, “We are committed as a nation and our valiant frontline workers are fully determined to achieve the target of poliovirus interruption by the end of 2017.”

Representatives of WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, JICA, USAID, Islamic Development Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC, Public Health England as well as of the governments of Japan and Canada also spoke on the occasion.

WHO’s Acting Representative Dr. Assai Ardakani said, Pakistan’s polio programme has set good lessons in the areas of effective and evidence-based management, coupled with accountability, and the same lessons can be applied to improve the overall health structures and systems in Pakistan and other countries facing similar challenges. Country Representative of UNICEF Angela Kearney also pledged to support the programme at all levels.

National Chair of Rotary International Pakistan Aziz Memon said, Rotary is proud to be part of this national cause. He made a special mention of the upcoming Rotary pledge event wherein the entire partnership will get together to ensure continuous support to polio eradication in the form of financing, logistics, and human resource contributions in the years to come.

Representative of the Islamic Development Bank in Pakistan Inamullah Khan applauded the commitment to make polio eradication an almost reality in Pakistan. “The exemplary turn-around has taught many lessons that can be applied in the Islamic world to tackle other health and social issues facing the Islamic Ummah,” he stated.

The representative of Canada expressed satisfaction over being part of a well-performing programme. Participants from USAID, JICA, CDC and Public Health England also appreciated the progress achieved during the last low transmission season, and reiterated commitment on behalf of their agencies to support Pakistan in its march towards zero polio.

Earlier, the National Coordinator for Polio Eradication Dr. Rana Safdar shared the overall programme progress during the low transmission season that just ended with a nationwide campaign in May. “The programme’s ability to anticipate virus risk and quickly plug immunity gaps during the implementation of National Emergency Action Plan 2016-17 has brought us this close to virus interruption,” he remarked. The recent survey in high-risk districts has indicated high immunity levels against polio; however, with a little added focus on high-risk mobile populations and improvements in routine immunization, we are all set to achieve our cherished goal, he stated.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has helped the world in reducing yearly polio cases from 365,000 to only 5 in 2017 so far. Along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is one of three remaining polio endemic countries of the world. The historically lowest-ever virus circulation provides the best opportunity to the world to rid the globe of polio.