President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday reiterated his government’s commitment to eradicate polio from Pakistan and emphasized the need for coordinated efforts by all the segments of society to reach every child for immunisations to make Pakistan a polio-free country.
Addressing the launching ceremony for the three-day country-wide anti-polio campaign at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the President said Pakistan had come a long way since 1994, when the former PM Benazir Bhutto launched the first polio eradication campaign formally.
“We are not yet completely polio free which is our aim so that no child lives in the fear of being crippled for life,” said Zardari.
The President said although Pakistan was one of the first countries to launch a polio eradication campaign, it had still not achieved the status of a polio-free country.
The President further said, “We are responsible for protecting the health and education needs of every child living anywhere in the country and we should fulfil our duty with the provision of these necessities for every child.”
The President also called for the need to produce polio vaccines within the country.
In this regard, he said that Pakistan and China had signed an MoU on cooperation in manufacturing vaccines and expressed the hope that the cooperation would also extend to manufacturing polio vaccines in Pakistan for nation-wide anti-polio programs.
Zardari said that the government was mindful of the challenges being faced in the polio campaign but added that no challenge was too big to stop them from saving children from polio.
The President also administered polio drops to some of the children present at Aiwan-e-Sadr and said some extremists had opposed administration of these drops in their areas adding that such forces could not halt the welfare agenda. With democracy taking roots, asserted Zardari, these forces were bound to fail.
To tackle this issue in North and South Waziristan, Zardari said his government was using locally apt solutions in accordance with regional traditions and norms.
He said the Sindh government had also been directed to take stern action against elements that attacked World Health Organisation workers in Karachi and to provide security to the international health teams adding that disease knew no borders and mankind had a collective responsibility towards children of the world.
