Helping hand: Bill Gates seeks Imran Khan’s help to fight polio in K-P

His commitment for polio eradication has resulted in his support.

ISLAMABAD:

American business magnate and Microsoft founder Bill Gates has pledged to help eradicate polio from Pakistan, soliciting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan’s help to check the disease in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Bill Gates’ letter to Imran Khan asking for his party’s cooperation comes at a time when polio cases are fast surfacing in Pakistan. Some 67 polio cases have been reported in the country over the past 17 months alone, according to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation.

An official statement issued by the PTI Central Secretariat confirmed that the letter was received. Bill Gates’ commitment to polio eradication has resulted in his support for a massive anti polio programme in Pakistan, added the statement.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $1.8 billion in April this year to fight polio in countries hit by the virus.

“Khan is scheduled to speak to Gates on the phone to discuss modalities of moving against polio in K-P,” said a senior party leader.

“We will fight against the polio virus together,” he added.



Some 160,000 children missed vaccination in K-P, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan due to security reasons since June 2012, health officials told The Express Tribune on Friday.

Polio workers have been regularly attacked by militants in K-P. Last year, the Taliban banned vaccination in the Waziristan region, deeming the health programme a cover for espionage.

There are roughly 0.21 million polio workers working in the country at present.

As Pakistan’s authorities offered little effective protection for such workers, international organisations like the World Health Organisation and United National Children International Children’s Emergency Fund have limited their operations.

WHO teams usually stay away from the areas which are severely threatened but operate in safe localities, said WHO Polio team leader Dr Nima Saeed Abid.

“We’ve engaged religious scholars, diplomats and the federal government to approach areas where the polio virus is spreading,” Abid told The Express Tribune. Abid added that the health body was not operating in North Waziristan.

Meanwhile, Unicef officials told The Express Tribune that their polio eradication campaign is currently operating in 37 districts with a network of over 1, 000 people.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2013.