Khan mentioned that polio cases in Pakistan have come down drastically in one year after only one case was recorded as against the 56 cases recorded a year before. He also expressed his hopes of eradicating polio within the coming year.
“This time last year we had 56 reported cases - this year thus far just one case. InshaAllah we'll eradicate polio completely within the coming year,” Khan said.
The Gates Foundation together with the worldwide Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) supplies technical and financial resources for community-driven immunisation programs. the inspiration also runs emergency operations centres in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Wild poliovirus currently impacts only two countries within the world-Afghanistan and Pakistan. In early June, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government launched a nationwide drive to eradicate polio by the top of this year. However, the continued Covid-19 pandemic has hampered the drive’s reach to a substantial extent, consistent with UNICEF’s estimates.
The eradication programme is additionally marred by frequent attacks on local healthcare workers. a couple of days after the launch of the national program gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed two cops assigned to guard polio vaccination workers in northwest Pakistan, reported the Associated Press.
Khan also said that he asked Bill Gates’s if a Microsoft incubation lab might be found out in Pakistan.
