Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq has said a sharp reduction of 85 per cent in polio cases and a significant drop in positive environmental samples collected from across the country have been achieved this year.
In a statement issued in connection with World Polio Day, Ayesha said protection from polio is the right of every Pakistani child and that the Government is making all out efforts to ensure that every child in Pakistan is reached with anti-Polio vaccine. Adding that the role of the communities, parents; civil society is of critical importance in ensuring that children get their right to protection from disease and disability caused by preventable diseases including Polio.
The Government’s resolve in fighting Polio is reflective in the major turn- around achieved this year. She said the present Government faced with a raging epidemic of Polio, took the challenge head on and with a well thought out strategy and high quality implementation has been able to not only contain the spread of the virus but has put the program on the road to completely stopping Polio virus transmission in the country.
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said National and Provincial Emergency Operation Centers (NPEOC) established across the country better monitor and oversee the polio effort. Zero tolerance for inefficiency and improved governance has been the cornerstone of the government’s strategy.
She said the security situation was the most challenging in Polio Eradication efforts. “Our Government’s unwavering resolve against terrorism and decisive action in the troubled areas have had a salutary effect on Polio Eradication” she remarked. .
It is most unfortunate that children had to suffer affliction of an irreversible ailment in this senseless spate of violence. A reign of fear prevented both health workers and families from reaching out to each other. With the success of military operation Zarb-i-Azab and support provided by the armed forces in implementation of the campaign, that challenge is being effectively addressed.
The Focal Person for Polio Eradication said they have converted adversity into opportunity and changed the course of events reaching eligible children in all agencies of FATA and across the country. The UAE- Pakistan Army collaborative effort in FATA and adjoining areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been most effective. As part of special strategies to exploit every opportunity of immunizing children against Polio and other diseases, all children of the TDP’s returning to their homes were also vaccinated.
She said a major breakthrough has been the overwhelming support of the religious clergy representing all schools of thought. They have rallied behind the cause calling upon the faithful to fulfill their obligation towards their children as enshrined in The Holy Quran.
As a result of locally appropriate and innovative communication and advocacy strategy, refusal to polio vaccination has seen a sharp decline and today stand at all time low.
She said Pakistan Program’s another breakthrough is access in to hitherto inaccessible areas and making insecure areas safe for vaccination operations. Out of the box strategies like community protected vaccination in security compromised areas have been scaled up with door-to-door vaccination campaigns in most difficult to reach areas in Balochistan, FATA, KP and Karachi. With the support of the armed forces, access to children was achieved in most insecure areas of FATA.
On the occasion of World Polio Day, she paid tributes to the public health managers, the vaccine experts, logisticians and epidemiologists who plan for vaccination, who make sure our vaccine is of the best quality. Who search out communities and children to ensure we deliver this life-saving service to them.
She also paid special tributes to parents, who overwhelmingly demand the service of vaccination, to all political parties, who have come together over this common goal of protecting the future of Pakistan and done their utmost to ensure children receive vaccination in their constituencies. But most of all, gratitude is due to the hundreds of women and men who go door to door to protect the children of Pakistan. They brave rough terrain, inclement weather and long arduous days of work to ensure our children are protected from Polio. We need to salute their spirit of service and support them wherever we are and in whatever manner we can.
