ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Bill Gates, founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), on Thursday to discuss polio eradication, as the number of reported cases of the virus reached 23 in Pakistan this year.
The latest case was reported on Thursday in Kohat district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province where a 10-month-old child was paralyzed by the disease. Earlier, 14 polio cases had already been detected this year in Balochistan province, four in the southern Sindh province while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and the federal capital, Islamabad, had reported one polio case each.
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. Starting from late 2018, Pakistan saw a resurgence of cases and an increased spread of polio, highlighting the fragility of gains achieved in the preceding three years.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the Gates Foundation’s engagement and support to Pakistan on polio eradication, maternal and child health, nutrition, immunization, digitization, and financial inclusion,” Sharif’s office said in a statement after he met Gates on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“The Prime Minister highlighted Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to ensure complete eradication of polio from the country. He thanked the BMGF for its longstanding support in this effort and underscored the need for sustained efforts and supports to Pakistan, particularly for health system strengthening and maternal and child nutrition in this regard.”
The statement said Gates acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts in combatting polio but stressed that eradication was “vital to protect its future generations from this crippling disease.”
“He appreciated the Prime Minister’s personal supervision and engagement of the Provincial governments in the polio vaccine program across the country,” the statement added.
“Mr. Gates shared updates on a comprehensive Health Dialogue with Afghanistan and requested support for the initiative. He also communicated his willingness to focus more on the pockets where the number of missed children or refusal of polio vaccines is higher especially where the morbidity of children is higher.”
The Pakistan Polio Eradication Program has said two large-scale, door-to-door vaccination campaigns are planned for later this year to close immunity gaps and curb the spread of the virus.
“It is devastating that too many children are suffering the consequences of missed vaccination opportunities,” Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said after the year’s 23rd case was reported on Thursday. “Polio is a terrible disease that alters a child’s life forever, snatching the chance to live up to their full potential.”
Urging parents, caregivers and communities to collectively take responsibility for the wellbeing of all children, she said:
“Poliovirus is in your area and the consequences of a polio infection for children are devastating and irreversible. The only means to protect them is to ensure that all children under the age of five in your home and communities are vaccinated with multiple doses of oral polio vaccine and have completed their routine immunization doses.”
Pakistan’s polio eradication program began in 1994, and the number of cases has declined dramatically since then but the country continues to face challenges in its fight against polio, including militancy, with polio workers targeted by attacks, particularly in the KP province.
The polio program has adapted to respond to climate disasters such as floods but continues to face disruptions. There are also gaps in supplementary immunization activities, especially in areas where the virus is still present.
