A tale of two drops : With end in sight, stakeholders ready for final push against polio virus

Pakistan, Afghanistan only two countries where polio hasn't been eradicated

KARACHI: Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio hasn't been completely eradicated. Due to issues of access, security and literacy, polio virus prevails in Pakistan despite the efforts of the government in coordination with World Health Organisation (WHO).

This was discussed at the first-of-its-kind webinar (virtual conference), titled 'The global effort to eradicate polio: Is it time to stop?' held on Monday to mark the World Polio Day being celebrated on October 24 (today). The webinar was an interactive session in partnership with Sanofi Pasteur, a multinational pharmaceutical company that provides polio vaccines, WHO, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Government of Pakistan and Rotary International.

The webinar focused on bringing together the members of Rotary International from the United Kingdom, Pakistan and Nigeria, engaging the journalists of these countries and addressing the WHO officials who participated in the discussion about challenges to eradicate polio. The WHO directors answered the questions of journalists and talked about how they were not ready to give up on the fight against polio and expected the two governments to cooperate.

Provincial Coordinator at the Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication and Immunisation, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, assured the participants of the webinar that the Sindh government was making all efforts to eradicate polio. According to Ali, all relevant authorities and officials of the provincial and district governments, polio workers and security officials were engaged in the fight against the crippling disease.

The target children for polio vaccinations in Pakistan are 38 million out of which 8.8m children are in Sindh and 2.3m of them are in Karachi alone. "We have 260,000 polio workers currently working across the province but they face severe security challenges," said Ali, adding, "We have six reported cases this year so far. To eradicate polio completely, we still need to win the trust of the community. Refusal is a problem in our society as people are sceptical about polio vaccines being effective. This needs to be addressed."

Ali also appreciated the efforts of international partners who lent a helping hand through funds, technical support, guidance, strategies and coordination.

Aziz Memon of Rotary International Pakistan spoke about the efforts being made in collaboration with the government to ensure a polio-free environment. "Rotary International has spent more than $200m till now to eradicate polio in Pakistan," he said, adding that they had structured resource centres, health camps, workers, vaccinations and awareness programmes. Water filtration plants in collaboration with Coca-Cola are setup as clean water is the basic need to prevent the virus from spreading.

Memon further highlighted the issue of cross-border migration and said, "Cross-border migration between Pakistan and Afghanistan is one of the reasons why both countries are unable to become polio-free." He maintained that sustainable efforts were being undertaken by the federal government as a three-day immunisation drive was launched on September 24. "Provincial governments are responsibly working to cover the smaller gaps."

WHO Director of Polio Eradication Michel Zaffran said that they were extremely close to winning the fight against polio as only two countries were left with the virus. He said that they started their efforts in 1985 when over 125 countries needed to be addressed but they came a long way with the right strategies. "Only 22 cases of polio have been reported this year so far from only two countries", he said, adding that they were ready to go the extra mile to bring this number to zero.

He also said that this has taken more time than they initially thought but believed that they "owe it to our children so they will not stop." According to Zaffran, the issues in these countries were of gaining access, reaching the right people who are ready to cooperate and work with them, and providing them with the adequate number of vaccines.

Head of Sanofi Pasteur, David Loew, said, "Partnership is the key to work towards polio eradication. The fact that there have been six billion oral vaccines shows how gigantic this disease is hence we need to ensure that there are enough plants to produce enough polio vaccines."

Responding to a question about joint efforts with Afghanistan, Ali said that both governments were working together against polio. "Borders cannot be closed down so the best way is to prevent the virus from spreading. We have polio teams posted everywhere near the border. Polio drops are given to children who cross the border on either side. There are strong, well-coordinated and synchronised efforts from both governments as without collective effort, no country will be in a winning position."

Judith Diment of Rotary International UK talked about the role of civil society in the war against polio. He said that education is the key hence we need to introduce books for children and a guiding hand for the mothers to make them well-aware. Trust is another aspect, according to him, that needs to be built within the society especially amongst religious leaders. "Trained religious leaders helped us eradicate polio in India."

To conclude the discussion, Zaffran said, "We are on the right track but we just need more time now."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2018.