Polio eradication: IDB disburses $32.6 million

The disbursement is the first installment of the $227 million for polio eradication efforts in Pakistan from IDP.

ISLAMABAD:

As part of its global polio eradication efforts, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has disbursed $32.6 million in the country to help eliminate the paralysing disease.

The disbursement is the first installment of the $227 million for polio eradication efforts in Pakistan that the IDB approved in March. The payment was made through the World Health Organisation (WHO) on August 3, said a press release. The IDB contribution will help train and support over 200,000 health workers and volunteers to reach 33 million children in Pakistan with the life-saving oral polio vaccine (OPV), to strengthen immunisation services for other vaccine-preventable diseases and to enhance disease surveillance across the country.

According to a press release, the WHO has appreciated the role of IDB for their intensified global polio eradication efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2013.