Initiation of anti-polio campaign for more than 44 million children

On Sunday January 15, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a nationwide campaign against polio from the capital Islamabad. On this occasion, he said that Pakistan is unfortunately one of the two countries in the world, where diseases like polio are still found. With this new campaign, 44.2 million children under the age of five will be vaccinated against polio in Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio mainly affects children under the age of five. This disease greatly affects the health of children and their proper development. A disorder affecting the nervous system eventually causes disability or paralysis in children.

According to reports, last year only 20 cases of polio were reported in the tribal region of North Waziristan in Pakistan, but the disease was also present in many other children through immunization.

More than 44 million children will be vaccinated against polio in 156 districts under this campaign which will be started in the new year i.e. 2023. 22.54 million children in Punjab, 10.1 million in Sindh and 7.4 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be vaccinated under the anti-polio campaign.

According to Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his government wants to play an effective role to eradicate polio in collaboration with other stakeholders. World Health Organization (WHO) and American billionaire Bill Gates are cooperating with Pakistan in this new campaign.

Inaugurating the campaign on Sunday, the Prime Minister distributed certificates to the frontline workers of the polio team and appreciated their hard work.

Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the work of polio workers or polio workers, describing them as ‘priceless sacrifice’. It should be remembered that there have been frequent attacks by militants on polio teams and police department officials in Pakistan. It is the baseless claim of the militants that the vaccination carried out under the polio campaign is actually part of the western world’s conspiracy to sterilize children.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan has assured the people that with the joint efforts of all the parties involved in this campaign, including the provincial governments, the Pakistani Army and the Ministry of Health, polio will be eradicated in Pakistan soon. Shahbaz Sharif especially thanked Bill Gates and the World Health Organization for their support in the anti-polio campaign.