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Islamabad: The Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting of the National Task Force on Polio Eradication at PM House, Islamabad today. The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of all four provinces, Prime Minister Azad Kashmir, Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan and Focal Person for National Task Force on Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq.
The Prime Minister said that country have achieved remarkable success in Polio Eradication Campaign. The Prime Minister appreciated the cooperation of Chief Ministers for conducting successful Polio Eradication Campaign in their respective provinces. The Prime Minister emphasized that government has the firm resolve to eliminate the polio virus in short period of time. The Prime Minster admired the performance of National Task Force on Polio Eradication and paid compliments to the Focal Person of the National Task Force for showing good performance.
The Prime Minister further said that his government has strong resolve and political and financial commitment to take forward the task of combating the polio incidence in Pakistan.
The prime Minister thanked the international partners for their support to fight the menace of polio in Pakistan and asked the chief Ministers of the four province, the PM Azad Jammu & Kashmir and CM Gilgit-Baltistan to brief the meeting in detail of what they have done in last two and a half years to tackle the polio problem. The Prime Minister directed the provincial administration and other concerned organizations to work even harder for eliminating polio virus in Pakistan.
Earlier Focal Person for National Task Force on Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq briefed the participants of the meeting on the performance of the Task Force. Participants were informed that in comparisons with 2014, the cases of polio has gone down by 82 % in 2015. As a result of good program implementation and high quality polio campaigns there is no polio case in Punjab and Sind since December 2014.
The meeting was also briefed that in Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa, especially its southern parts were the real concern for the program. Recent reports are indicating better access to previously inaccessible parts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa. The meeting was told that in FATA the program has seen a major turnaround.
The meeting was informed that during 2014 and first half of 2015, of the total 282 million children cumulatively targeted in campaigns, about 267 million children (95%) have been vaccinated. The meeting was briefed about the actions taken by the government and directions issued for oversight, security, administrative assistance and monitoring of the polio eradication campaigns.
