Sindh to mark World Polio Day today

The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio in Sindh will be celebrating World Polio Say across the province on October 24,2021. Events include grand cycle rallies and races, seminars and awareness sessions.

Motivation sessions for workers, cricket matches, walks and carnivals will be held across the province of Sindh to mark the day and raise awareness on the benefits of vaccination and the dangers associated with the polio virus.

The annual observance of World Polio Day on October 24 is to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, the developer of the vaccine against polio. Salk's inactivated vaccine and Albert Bruce Sabin's oral vaccine helped save millions of children.

Just in the last two decades more than three billion children have been administered the polio vaccine which has prevented at least 10 million cases.

"On this day, we must recognise the efforts of frontline workers who are not only providing the polio vaccine to children, but are also instrumental in containing the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan. We really must appreciate the work they have done" said Sindh EOC Coordinator Fayyaz Abbasi.

Sindh has not reported a polio case since July 2020, while the environment samples of the province are also showing a negative trend.

The promise of a polio free world was made 33 years ago at the 41st World Health Assembly and since then, the world has achieved a 99.9% reduction in wild poliovirus transmission. Now only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain polio endemic, but the latest epidemiological trends suggest that the country is now running the final mile to end polio from the world.

"It is time now to deliver on this promise, no child should be disabled by a disease that is vaccine preventable. Things are on the right track, but we must not get complacent and double our efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2021.