Polio eradication: Pakistan and Afghanistan agree on joint efforts

Discuss mechanism to administer polio drops in border regions

QUETTA: Health officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan held a meeting at the Friendship Gate near the border to discuss the issues related to the polio vaccination campaign.

The Pakistani delegation was led by DHO Dr Abdul Rashid Shafiq, WHO’s area coordinator Dr Shamsullah, Daud Khan, Dr Abdulah, Dr Mohammad Raza, Dr Shah Jahan, Yasir Shah and others. And the Afghan team was led by PPO Dr Ubaidulah, DHO Dr Javid, Dr Baseer, Dr Barli, Dr Abdul Jalil, Kamaluddin, Abdul Wahab, Dr Asad, Afghanistan’s polio coordinator Abdul Rahim and others.

During the meeting both sides emphasised the need for joint efforts against polio eradication in the border regions. They also discussed developing a mechanism to administer polio drops in the tribes and agreed to form separate teams to be sent to the two sides.



WHO’s area coordinator Dr Shamsullah said that polio teams would reach the zero line and administer polio drops to all children in their areas. These villages were earlier taken care of by Afghan polio teams, but now the Pakistani authorities would form their own teams for the areas and vaccinate all the children there, he added.

The two sides also jointly agreed to continue such cross-border meetings as part of efforts to eradicate polio.

Meanwhile, according to sources in the health department, over the last six months, four polio cases have been confirmed in Quetta block and southern Afghanistan. They added that international organisations consider the two mentioned places as a global threat to polio.