Polio Eradication: World Bank approves $24 million

Funds will provide financial resources to procure the Oral Polio Vaccine as part of the global campaign.

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved a US$24 million second additional financing for Polio Eradication Project (TPPEP) to support the Government of Pakistan’s efforts to immunise 34.8 million children against the crippling disease. In 1988 when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched, 125 countries reported an estimated 350,000 cases of polio each year. With the implementation of the strategies recommended by the initiative, cases of Polio transmission had dropped by 99% in 2006 and are now limited to only three countries, Pakistan among them.  “Although Pakistan has seen great progress in the reduction of polio over the last 20 years, it remains one of the few countries where polio still impacts lives and recent cases are worrying,” said Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. The project is the third in a series since 2003 that provide financial resources to the Government of Pakistan to procure the Oral Polio Vaccine as part of the global campaign.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.