Karachi: A senior UNICEF official said polio programme in Pakistan was back on track and hoped that crippling disease will be eradicated from country by end of 2023 following effective measures taken to check its spread.

Regional Director for South Asia George Laryea-Adjei in an exclusive interview with APP said current data suggested that virus was now under control in country. “We are using all available resources and services at our disposal to reach every girl and boy in Pakistan with lifesaving vaccines and protect them against entirely preventable disease,” he said.

Appreciating efforts of over 350,000 health workers travelling to all parts of country to administer doses of vaccine to every child, he said, “programme is back on track to stop all wild polio virus transmission in 2023”. George Laryea-Adjei said Pakistan was in much better position today to eradicate polio than a year ago. However, there were challenges that hampered efforts to eliminate virus completely.

He expressed concern over attack on polio and health workers in some parts of Pakistan and lauded courage of polio teams. He appreciated efforts of polio eradication endeavours of government recalling that Pakistan was first country to launch an ambitious programme for training its health workers to support national immunisation programmes.

Highlighting challenges, he said that onslaught of back-to-back disasters drought, heatwaves, floods and acts of violence continued to put millions of children’s lives at risk in Pakistan.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 05 2022

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