Govt seeks PML-N, PPP experts’ support for polio eradication

KARACHI: In order to bring its polio eradication initiative back on track, the federal government has decided to use the expertise and experience of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq as well as former PPP parliamentarian and former Focal Person of Prime Minister on Polio Eradication Shahnaz Wazir Ali besides several others to bring the polio eradication programme back on track and improve immunization coverage in the country.

Both the female parliamentarians would be part of the National Strategic Advisory Group on Polio Eradication and Immunization that would be led-by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza while other members of the advisory group would be Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the UN Zamir Akram, Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Health Khalid Magsi, Dr. Nosheen Hamid, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, and Dr. Sanjay Gangwani, Member Provincial Assembly, Sindh.

Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq was awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz for her role in polio eradication last year while Shahnaz Wazir Ali, who is currently serving as the President of S.Z.A Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), is a known personality who served for years as PM’s focal person on polio eradication and helped in enhancing immunization coverage in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s polio eradication initiative is under severe criticism from the international health bodies and donor agencies due to extremely poor immunization coverage, emergence of 91 polio cases from all parts of the country in the current year, growing refusals by parents and other issues.

The Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Dr. Zafar Mirza, also said in a statement yesterday that the creation of National Strategic Advisory Group was aimed at eradicating polio from Pakistan and effectively protecting children from other vaccine preventable diseases through a truly national effort.

This decision has been taken in consultation with the prime minister of Pakistan in the wake of the situation faced by the country due to the virus upsurge in the country during 2019 that has so far resulted in 91 Wild Polio Virus (WPV1) cases along with the recent emergence of circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus Type 2 (VDPV-2) in northern Pakistan, he added. The high burden of vaccine preventable diseases in Pakistan has been a daunting challenge over the years. Moreover, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination was particularly concerned over the steep polio upsurge that affected all the provinces touching alarming proportions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Ministry felt it was imperative to put health as a shared national priority and decided to tackle the challenge through national consensus, unequivocal support and commitment across the political and social spectrum.

Owing to its vast experience, the group aims to bring together political leaders and influential personalities, public health professionals, journalists, diplomats, religious and other community groups in support of immunization and specifically polio eradication. The group will further advise on the development and implementation of strategies and approaches aimed at repositioning polio eradication and immunization as a high priority national agenda and harnessing renewed political and public commitment to the cause.