Bill Gates hails Pakistan’s anti-polio fight

ISLAMABAD: Microsoft co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Bill Gates Thursday expressed satisfaction over the quality, progress and impact of Pakistan’s polio eradication programme, during his first-ever visit to Pakistan.

He met Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Dr Arif Alvi, and visited the Covid-19 National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) during his daylong activities.

Speaking at the NCOC, Bill Gates appreciated Pakistan’s success in the fight against Covid-19 in a resource-constrained environment and complimented the country’s health leadership for introducing excellent initiatives for public health safety. The NCOC has led the response to Covid-19, relying on resources and lessons learnt from the polio programme to coordinate the country’s response, including data analysis, vaccine campaign planning, and community engagement.

Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed Bill Gates on his first-ever visit to Pakistan and thanked the BMG Foundation over its continued support and partnership with the government of Pakistan in polio eradication.

The prime minister underlined that the government was fully committed and determined towards polio eradication. On the special invitation of PM Imran Khan, Bill Gates attended the meeting of National Task Force for Polio Eradication.

The prime minister said Afghanistan, being the primary source of polio incidence in Pakistan’s two bordering provinces, required urgent international support to avert humanitarian crisis including health emergency. Pakistan is providing full support for the sake of 40 million Afghan people in need of basic amenities, he added.

Bill Gates thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for inviting him and extending warm hospitality on his first-ever visit to Pakistan. He appreciated the efforts of the leadership, health workers and parents for working tirelessly to ensure that polio never paralyses a child again. He said Pakistan could make history by totally eradicating the crippling disease. Gates said that despite Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, Pakistan performed amazingly and continued with polio vaccinations.

The National Task Force on Polio Eradication paid tributes to the 36 frontline workers and 14 law-enforcement personnel, who lost their lives during polio vaccination across the country. Earlier, the Task Force briefed the meeting that Pakistan had completed one year of zero polio incidence. However, the virus had been detected in environmental samples in southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

The provincial governments informed the meeting about resources allocated towards polio campaign and expressed full commitment towards making Pakistan polio-free. Prime Minister Imran Khan also had a one-on-one meeting with Bill Gates. He hosted a lunch in his honour, which was attended by federal ministers, SAPM on health, KP governor, chief ministers of Punjab, KP, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJ&K prime minister.

One of the highlights of Bill Gates’ visit to NCOC was presentation of shields to provincial coordinators as an acknowledgment of their commitment to polio eradication. This was done in the presence of coordinators of the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) and representatives of UNICEF, World Health Organisation (WHO), BMGF and NEOC.

Bill Gates and his delegation was informed about NCOC’s role, methodology, achievements, recent Covid-19 situation across Pakistan, genome sequencing, and various Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) placed by the NCOC to control the disease spread.

Bill Gates took keen interest in the NCOC initiatives, particularly the smart lockdown and micro-smart lockdown strategy enforcement measures, as well as Pakistan’s vaccine administration regime.

Asad Umar acknowledged the efforts of Bill Gates and his Foundation in support of Covid-19 initiatives in Pakistan. He attributed the success to a true national response, executed through an effective communication campaign mechanism of the NCOC, which helped build trust of masses.

Bill gates also visited the Operations Room and the 1166 Helpline. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan highlighted the contribution of the federal and provincial governments, polio staff, and frontline healthcare workers for reaching eligible children during routine vaccination campaigns. “We are focused on building the capacity of district government-led teams, especially in high-risk areas of south Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” he added.

In his talk with Senator Dr Sania Nishtar here, Bill Gates termed Ehsaas initiative a “state-of-the-art programme”. Dr Sania briefed him about Ehsaas and the focus on data, digitization and transparency as key drivers of all Ehsaas programmes. She thanked him for his words of appreciation for Ehsaas and his support.

The visiting official was also briefed on governance reforms under Ehsaas and the Building and Rebuilding Institutions Initiative of Ehsaas where changes had focused on a three-pronged approach of institutionalising efficiency through digitisation, embedding good governance, and minimising financial and statutory risks.

APP adds: President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday conferred Hilal-e-Pakistan on American technologist and philanthropist Bill Gates in recognition of his meritorious services for the people of Pakistan, particularly for eradication of polio. The award was given at a special ceremony, held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, attended by Begum Samina Alvi, federal ministers and senior officials.