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Thursday March 28, 2024

Collective efforts urged to end polio for good

By M. Waqar Bhatti
October 25, 2020

Over 300 enthusiastic cyclists from across Karachi participated in a polio awareness exercise in Clifton on Saturday under the banner of the Cycologists group and other cycling clubs. The event was organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Foundation (MKRF) in collaboration with the Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication Initiative Sindh (EOC) and the Rotary Club Karachi.

Besides a cycling rally, a walk was also held to raise awareness about the crippling disease of polio. The event was attended by people from different walks of life, Rotarians, EOC members, students and civil society members, who were carrying banners and placards inscribed with awareness slogans and messages to eradicate polio from our soil.

The cycling rally and the walk were part of the activities organised in connection with World Polio Day, which is observed every year on October 24 to raise awareness and to promote the importance of taking coordinated and concerted actions to end polio in Pakistan.

A boat race was also organised as one of the events to raise awareness in the regard. The event started from the fishermen’s village of Baba Island and was attended by dozens of young men and children from different villages and towns of fishermen communities living along the city’s coast.

The objective of the boat race was also to increase awareness among people about the dreaded disease of polio and to highlight the importance of vaccination against vaccine-preventable diseases, especially polio.

After starting from SZABIST and riding all around Boat Basin and Sea View, the young cyclists were given a detailed awareness session on polio, its causes and prevention methods as well as what needs to be done for its eradication.

The session was jointly organised by Cychologists, MKRF, Rotarians, Essa Lab, the EOC and others with participation also from the Sindh government, WHO and Unicef representatives.

Among the participants were Shahrukh Hasan, Group Managing

Director of the Jang Group, Aziz Memon and Masood Balli from the Rotary Club, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Soomro, EOC core team member Dr Shoukat Ali, EOC Media Specialist Abid Hasan and Ali Hafeez representing the cyclists and the Rotary Club.

The participants of the rally and the walk were also updated on the latest polio incidents reported in Pakistan, and also on how important it was for them as citizens to play their part in clearing all misconceptions about vaccinations, which can save many lives and prevent lifelong physical limitations.

Speaking on the occasion, MKRF Managing Director Shahrukh Hasan said that the eradication of polio from Pakistan is a national cause, for which people from all segments of society will have to join hands and work together.

He also said that all religious and political parties, people from the showbiz, different segments of society and the common people should come forward to eradicate this menace from our country once and for all.

“Polio eradication is a national cause, and the way we have handled Covid-19, we can also control and wipe out polio from our soil. I urge people from all segments of society to join hands and work like a single unit to wipe out this menace from Pakistan.”

Eminent Rotarian and National Chair for the Pakistan PolioPlus Committee Aziz Memon said that October 24 is an important day for the country. He said that this day is marked in remembrance of Dr Jonas Salk, who had invented the oral polio vaccine (OPV) and made history by introducing it to save children from the crippling disease.

He said that with the help of the OPV, the world has been free of polio, adding that over 75 endemic countries have eradicated polio from their soils by using it, and now Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where cases of this dreaded disease are still being reported.

“Even Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the track to wipe out this disease from the region. All we need to do is work hard, and everyone needs to support polio eradication. From October to December we’ll have polio vaccination campaigns, so we should encourage parents to get their children vaccinated whenever a vaccinator knocks on their door.”

Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Soomro said polio eradication is a challenge for the people of Pakistan, and the government and people of Sindh have made tremendous efforts in this regard. He said that even precious lives were sacrificed to eradicate this crippling disease from the country.

“The Sindh government and all its institutions, including the health department and especially Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, have worked very hard. Now we need a final push to eradicate this dreaded disease,” said Soomro, and lauded the support of the Rotary Club, the EOC, donor agencies and the common people.

The EOC’s Dr Shoukat Ali and Abid Hassan said officials have been working day and night for the past several years to wipe out polio from the country, and now it is time that parents show some commitment, get their children vaccinated and also motivate others

so that this menace can be controlled permanently.

Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said she wants to appreciate the unsung heroes of the polio eradication programme, the front-line workers who have gone about their jobs under very difficult circumstances to reach children with the life-saving vaccine. “I request parents and caregivers to welcome these workers on their doorsteps. It is their efforts that are protecting the future generations of our country.”