The World Bank on Friday approved $ 41 million additional financing to support Pakistan’s efforts to immunise 32 million children against the crippling effects of polio with the goal of eradicating the disease from the country.
World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Rachid Benmessaoud in a statement said, “Although Pakistan has seen great progress in the reduction of polio over the last 20 years, it remains one of the few countries where polio still impacts lives and recent increases in the number of cases are worrying”.
The project is the third in a series since 2003 that provide financial resources to the government to procure the oral polio vaccine as part of the global campaign. It is also a part of a global effort to eradicate polio and is being supported through an innovative partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International through the UN Foundation.
The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm. The credit carries a 0.75 percent service charge, 10 years of grace period and a maturity of 35 years. With the achievement of the agreed results the IDA credit gets paid by these partners on behalf of the government of Pakistan.
Due to the large scale floods of 2010 that affected over 20 million people and areas of conflict where access to health services has been limited, there has been resurgence in the number of polio cases in Pakistan. Prior to the start of the monsoon floods at the end of July in 2010, a total of 27 polio cases had been reported.
However, this number rose to 144 by year-end, compared to 89 confirmed cases in 2009.
