Polio eradication ‘a national imperative’

Senator tells global forum govt effort with GPEI support has proven decisive

ISLAMABAD: PM’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq has said that polio eradication has become the country’s national imperative and enjoyed a broad political and popular support.

She was addressing an event in Atlanta, USA held to highlight efforts for polio eradication.

She told the assembled leaders at the event titled: ‘Drop to Zero -- Global Pledging’ that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been personally leading the campaign against the crippling virus and “the government effort with effective Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) support has proven decisive”.

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“Our prime minister has made a commitment to make the world free of polio for the current and future generations of Pakistani children. We have absolutely no intention of letting them and the children of the world down,” said Senator Ayesha.

“This is backed up by a direct financial contribution of $154 million and substantial indirect contribution of $100 million,” she added.

She said: “Our National Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication is clearly delivering results -- to clear polio reservoirs, respond aggressively to any outbreak and maintain high population immunity elsewhere.

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“There are no magic solutions, just extraordinary hard work with a focus on the basics of vaccination to ensure success by our heroic vaccinators on the doorstep and inside each home.”

The senator said to the audience: “We will continue to apply lessons learnt, innovate, refine tactics and work to systematically tackle routine immunisation in order to stay the course and finish the job.

“We continue to closely coordinate with our Afghanistan counterparts, recognising we have one single epidemiological block.”

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The event was participated by Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development of Canada; John Germ, president, Rotary International; Faisal Shuaib, executive director, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency of Nigeria; Takashi Shinozuka, Consul General of Japan in Atlanta; Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission; Hamdullah Mohib, Ambassador to the United States, Afghanistan; Anne Schuchat, acting director, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; and Michel Zaffran, director, Polio Eradication, World Health Organisation.

Coordinated Pak-Afghan efforts for polio eradication bear fruit

“When I was appointed by the prime minister in 2014, I must admit that I was a little daunted by the scale and scope of the challenge that confronted my country,” said Senator Ayesha.

“More than half a million children were inaccessible in our Federally Administered Tribal Areas, many of our 250,000 frontline vaccinators worked in a climate of fear and some made the ultimate sacrifice. The programme was missing too many children and our surveillance was insufficiently sensitive.

“Today, there are no longer any children inaccessible to the programme. Our frontline vaccinators no longer operate in a climate of fear. Our armed forces and law-enforcement agencies have paid for this secure environment with their lives.”

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Senator Ayesha added: “Campaign quality has strengthened and we have expanded surveillance to reduce the risk of any missed transmission.”

The forum was informed that since the GPEI was launched in 1988, polio cases around the world have dropped by 99.9%. Last year, just 37 children were paralyzed as a result of polio in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

To date in 2017, there have been just five cases of polio anywhere in the world, fewer than in any previous year. These cases have been confined to small areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nigeria has not reported a new polio case since August 2016.