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More than 71 million Pakistani children have been vaccinated against polio as part of a campaign launched by the United Arab Emirates in the country of South Asia five years ago.
More than 407 million drops of polio vaccine were given to children under five in Pakistan between 2014 and April this year as part of the Emirates Polio campaign.
The figures were released Saturday by the UAE and Pakistan's Assistance Program, a joint two-country health initiative that supports efforts to eradicate the disease from around the world.
The program was launched following orders given by President Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Supreme Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces, in 2014.
Until 2017, the campaign had administered 254.4 million doses of vaccines to 43 million children in Pakistan. Last year, coverage was extended to 83 additional areas in four provinces, including high-risk areas, to reach an additional 34 million children.
More than 97,000 polio workers, including doctors, nurses, security personnel and coordination teams, are on the ground and are planning additional campaign campaigns from June to December this year.
Children are vaccinated through fixed polio teams in health centers or by mobile teams designated to cover the villages. Polio teams also go to refugee camps. The program also organized media campaigns to encourage parents to vaccinate their children against the disease, crippling and even deadly, and trained local medical staff in the management of inoculation.
The campaign against polio is being conducted in cooperation with the Pakistani Army, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Health Services of Pakistan, the ministries of the Provincial Government Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The UAE is a partner in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation mission to eradicate polio worldwide since 2011.
The global polio eradication campaign was launched in 1988 with the support of the international community. The UAE was declared free of poliomyelitis in 1992.
Health worker marks finger of child after vaccinating children against polio in Kandahar, Afghanistan, April 2019. Muhammad Sadiw / EPA
A simple vaccine, developed in 1955, easily prevents the disease and has been almost completely eradicated in the West for more than half a century. Australia was declared polio-free in 1972 and the United Kingdom in 1982.
In Pakistan, the number of polio cases increased from 306 in 2014 to 12 last year.
According to the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the number of polio cases in the world has increased from 359 in nine countries in 2014 to 33 in 2018, 12 in Pakistan and 21 in Afghanistan.
Updated: June 8, 2019 14:55
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