Polio eradication a national imperative, Ayesha tells global forum

Islamabad

Polio eradication has become our national imperative and enjoys broad political and popular support. This is backed up by a direct financial contribution of US $154 million and substantial indirect contribution of $100 million made each year in government and security infrastructure and time.

Addressing global leaders at ‘Drop to Zero,’ a global pledging event for polio eradication in Atlanta, USA, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq made these remarks to express Pakistan’s commitment to a polio-free world. “We have absolutely no intention of letting down the children of the world and the current and future generations of Pakistani children,” said Ayesha.

Ayesha made a mention of the efforts being made to clear polio reservoirs, respond aggressively to any outbreak, and maintain high population immunity elsewhere. “There are no magic solutions, just extraordinary hard work with a focus on the basics of vaccination to ensure success by our heroic vaccinators on the doorstep and inside each home. We will continue to apply lessons learnt, innovate, refine tactics and work to systematically tackle routine immunization in order to stay the course and finish the job. We continue to closely coordinate with our Afghanistan counterparts, recognizing we have one single epidemiological block,” she added.

The event was participated by Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development of Canada, John Germ, President, Rotary International, Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency of Nigeria, Takashi Shinozuka, Consul General of Japan in Atlanta, Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission Hamdullah Mohib, Ambassador to the United States, Afghanistan, Anne Schuchat, Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Michel Zaffran, Director, Polio Eradication, World Health Organisation.

“When I was appointed in 2014, I was a little daunted by the scale and scope of the challenge. More than half a million children were inaccessible in our Federally Administered Tribal Areas, many of our 250,000 frontline vaccinators worked in a climate of fear and some made the ultimate sacrifice. The programme was missing too many children and our surveillance was insufficiently sensitive,” Ayesha informed the forum before moving on to contrast the challenges of bygone years with current achievements. “We will continue to identify and close the remaining gaps until we achieve and sustain zero,” she pledged, thanking all donors and partners for their support.

The Global Forum was informed that since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, polio cases around the world have dropped by 99.9%. In 1988, polio paralyzed 40 children every hour, resulting in more than 350,000 cases each year across 125 countries. Last year, only 37 children were paralyzed as a result of polio in only three countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. This is the lowest annual case count in history. To date in 2017, there have been just five cases of polio anywhere in the world, fewer than in any previous year. These cases have been confined to small areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nigeria has not reported a new polio case since August 2016. Polio is on the verge of becoming only the second human disease after smallpox to be eradicated. There has been continued progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as both countries work together to ensure that more children are reached with polio vaccines.