Islamabad: The UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme announced that over 5.8 million Pakistani children were vaccinated against polio during the June and July under the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to boost the health sector’s preventive programmes in Pakistan.
The move also comes in line with the initiative of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to eradicate polio worldwide.
The programme said the UAE vaccination campaign has been a huge success by exceeding the targeted sector in 23 areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the tribal region. It vaccinated 3.4 million children in June, and 2.38 million in July, bringing the total number of the vaccinated children to 5.87.
The administration of the programme noted that during July the vaccination was stepped up in the areas where displaced people live and the tribal region to reach out to those not vaccinated for years. It managed to vaccinate 2,3 million children under the age of six in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the tribal region.
It emphasised the importance of Shaikh Mohammad’s initiative to eradicate polio in the world’s most difficult and disease-incubator areas, adding that the initiative reflects the UAE leadership’s humanitarian support to the people of Pakistan who appreciated the UAE and its leadership for their humanitarian stance.
Earlier, the World Health Organisation warned of the danger of a polio epidemic in Pakistan, which in 2011 recorded the highest number of polio cases in 10 years, with a total of 198 cases. In 2012, a total of 58 cases were recorded, while in 2013, a total of 93 cases were recorded.
In the first seven months of this year, 99 cases were recorded, compared with 24 cases in the same period in 2013.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world which remain polio-endemic.
