High level polio team concludes visit to Pakistan

Islamabad : The three-day visit to Pakistan by the Chairman of the Polio Oversight Board, Regional Directors of the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and senior directors of the global polio programme was concluded on Friday.

The visit was aimed to support Pakistan in addressing the remaining challenges to containing polio transmission.

Pakistan has an important window of opportunity to end polio for good and it was encouraging to see first-hand the leadership and commitment to eradicating polio during my time in Pakistan, said Chris Elias, President, Global Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the current Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative s (GPEI) Polio Oversight Board (POB).

With this continued leadership, innovation and resolve of brave health workers, I’m confident Pakistan will soon stop this disease, Elias added.

During their visit to Islamabad and Peshawar, the delegates visited Emergency Operation Centres, attended the National Task Force meeting and the Provincial Task Force meeting for polio eradication in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

They also held separate side meetings with Health Minister Qadir Patel.

Between April and May, three children in North Waziristan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were paralysed by polio.