PM’s aide says polio near eradication in Pakistan
Dr Faisal Sultan said that Pakistan is near to achieve its goal for becoming a polio free country as no case was reported in a whole year.
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that Pakistan is near to achieve its goal for becoming a polio free country as no case was reported in a whole year.
Dr Faisal Sultan said in a Twitter message on Friday, “Today, we complete a whole year of zero polio cases in Pakistan.”
He said, “But environmental samples from a few places highlight the need for a final push. Visited DI Khan to discuss the way forward with Polio teams, local admin and security teams.”
Diligent Effort of Polio Worker Wins Hearts
“There are challenges due to mobile/hard to reach populations in this area but I found a super committed set of senior administrators, polio staff and our partners in this work. The goal will be achieved inshallah,” he concluded.
Today we complete a whole year of zero polio cases in Pakistan. But environmental samples from a few places highlight the need for a final push. Visited DI Khan to discuss the way forward with Polio teams, local admin and security teams. pic.twitter.com/wbJoahsp98
— Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) January 27, 2022
In the previous year, PM Imran Khan had shared the biggest milestone achieved as the country reported only one case in 2021.
For a very long time, Pakistan has been considered as the exporter of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) with the highest number of cases. Although, the misconception still resides among the citizens about the polio vaccine and a lot of people don’t trust it, leading to the failure of polio eradication campaigns in the region.
In Pakistan: Polio Workers Go to Great Lengths For Duty
Pakistan had reported 84 polio cases, whereas, Afghanistan had 56 in 2020 as both countries were the last two nations left in the world still having poliovirus. Both countries had reported only one case through active polio drives in 2021.
PM had shared the major achievement on his Twitter handle and gave a little glimpse of the telephonic conversation with Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Imran Khan had thanked the co-chair for his assistance through Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in bringing down polio cases in Pakistan. Imran Khan had assured to take relative measures to wipe polio off the map.
