The Ambassador of Japan has announced a $ 4.35 million grant to support Pakistan for its Poliovirus eradication efforts. The grant will be utilised for the procurement of 24 million oral doses of vaccines. It will allow the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme to reach around 21 million children under the age of five, especially in high-risk districts. Japan has provided assistance in maternal and child health, polio eradication, and routine immunization in Pakistan for decades and is continuing its support that will directly benefit vulnerable people.
The Polio Programme strategic goal is to permanently curb all poliovirus transmission in Pakistan by the end of 2023. Efforts are being made by the incumbent Government to make Pakistan a polio-free state. Polio eradication is the topmost priority of the state as it affects future generations. The government has started different programmes including, Polio Eradication Campaign, Expanded Immunisation Programme, and Immunisation and Surveillance Strategies to combat poliovirus. Pakistan has achieved tremendous success against interrupting poliovirus this year as the polio cases reported 84 in the year 2020 have come down to one case in the last eleven months.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that mainly affects children under the age of five. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the only effective way to protect our children from the crippling disease. Such repeated immunizations have protected millions of children from polio and made most of the countries around the world polio-free.
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