(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) 17 million kids to get vaccinated from January to March this year under the UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme.
Islamabad — The UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAE-PAP) has announced the start of the second phase of the UAE vaccination campaign against polio ‘Emirates Polio Campaign’ which is targeting 17 million children in Pakistan and administering 51 million doses of vaccine.
Vaccination teams will provide three consecutive vaccination doses in a row to the 17 million children through the implementation of 282 fixed and mobile vaccination centres during the months of January February and March of 2015.
UAE PAP Director Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli said the first phase of the vaccination campaign was a huge success vaccinating 13 million Pakistani children.
Al Ghafli said the UAE PAP vaccination campaign will be carried out in cooperation with the Pakistani military leadership and the Ministry of Health of Pakistan and ministries of health in the provincial governments and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Unicef and under the supervision and participation of medical staff specialist of those authorities.
The campaign is being implemented under the directives of the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to step up healthcare programmes in the affected areas of Pakistan and is part of a Dh440-million pledge by General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces to support global efforts in eradicating polio by 2018 with a specific contribution towards Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to UAE PAP administrative officials the campaign symbolises UAE’s humanitarian commitment to helping the poor nations develop human development programmes and focus attention on the children in need of preventive health care. It is a true interpretation of Shaikh Khalifa’s directives to support health awareness plans in Pakistan control epidemics and put an end to the health implications on the children in the affected areas.
Al Ghafli extended his thanks and appreciation to Shaikh Khalifa and Gen Shaikh Mohammed for their directives to launch this humanitarian initiative to protect Pakistani children from epidemics of dangerous diseases that threaten their health and safety and well-being
He also expressed his thanks and deepest appreciation to the Government of Pakistan Pakistani Army WHO Unicef representatives of provincial vaccination committee field teams and to all those who planned prepared and executed the UAE polio eradication campaign.
Teamwork required
In 2011 Gen Shaikh Mohammed and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a strategic partnership according to which a total amount of $100 million divided equally between the two parties was presented for the purchase and delivery of vital vaccines for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Gen Shaikh Mohammed said that saving children from curable diseases is a great humanitarian enterprise that can be only done by teamwork and collaborative efforts. He said the UAE under the leadership of Shaikh Khalifa is always seeking international partnerships to sort out these sensitive global issues.
This is the second contribution by Gen Shaikh Mohammed to make vaccinations and serums available to all children of the world.
Al Ghafli said with the launch of the second phase of the vaccination campaign comes an investment breakthrough achieved by the campaign and the culmination of practical success in grafting 13000283 thousand and 701 Pakistani children against polio in the first phase.
Al Ghafli referred to the extraordinary role and the particular importance of the campaign in supporting the global initiative endorsed by the General Assembly of the World Health to eradicate polio by the end of 2018 and to support the national emergency plan launched by the Pakistan government to eliminate the polio virus.
The campaign covers 53 areas 15 of them in the territory of the region’s tribal areas and 25 district in the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 12 regions in the province of Balochistan as well as Karachi district in Sindh province.
WHO reports
WHO reports indicated the seriousness of the increase in the number of cases detected in Pakistan in 2014 where 303 children were affected by polio. It is the highest number of cases of the disease reported in a decade’s time.
The total number of polio cases recorded at the global level reached 339 case where about 90% of children with polio in 2014 were Pakistanis.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that attacks the nervous system and mostly kids under five get exposed to it. One child out of every 200-400 kids affected by polio is exposed to paralysis or death. — Wam