The Prime Minister’s focal person for polio eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq has said that we are definitely at a crossroads now being so close to our goal, but that we will need everyone’s commitment to reach it.
She said this while speaking at a signing ceremony of an agreement worth Japanese Yen 404 million (US$ 4 million) for “The Project for the Control and Eradication of Poliomyelitis” between the government of Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
This latest grant will support the procurement of 3.9 million doses of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and associated items; sufficient to vaccinate 3.3 million children between 4 to 23 months of age in the highest-risk districts of the polio virus in Pakistan.
The government of Japan has supported the polio eradication initiative in Pakistan since 1996. Approximately JPY 23 billion (US$ 216.53 million) has been delivered to date, for procurement of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), strengthening vaccine management and cold chain system.
Pakistan is making significant progress in the fight against polio. Last year Pakistan achieved an 82% reduction in the number of children paralyzed by polio down to 54 cases compared to 306 in 2014. During the current year, Pakistan has shown further improvement by bringing down the number of cases from 45 in November 2015 to 18 so far in 2016.
Ayesha Raza said that the current polio picture for Pakistan is the best ever seen; however, she added that we will need everyone’s commitment to reach every missed child and to end polio forever.
Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Takashi Kurai was optimistic about headway in polio control.
“We are hopeful that the use of IPV in vaccination campaigns will ensure any emerging immunity gap among the newborn and other children younger than two years in areas that continue to harbour the polio virus is quickly closed”, said the ambassador.
JICA Pakistan Chief Representative Yasuhiro Tojo said “There has been real progress in reducing the number of new infections in Pakistan. Now is the time to make the final push to eradicate polio. We hope this investment will ensure future generations will no longer have their lives blighted by this crippling disease”.
Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Programme has added inactivated polio vaccine to vaccination campaigns in 2016 in the highest-risk districts of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some agencies of FATA to boost individual immunity of children.
In 2015 it was introduced into the routine schedule across the country as well. Combining OPV and IPV provides stronger protection against polio.
