Sharif vows to eradicate polio from Pak

Days after WHO described Peshawar as the world's biggest reservoir of polio virus, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said the country remains strongly committed towards polio eradication and aims to eliminate the "debilitating disease" this year.
The government has managed to localise most cases to focal areas which are concentrated mainly in North Waziristan and Khyber agency, he said.
"95 per cent of the country is now polio-free. No WPV3 cases were reported in 2013," Sharif said, adding that though this is the evidence that we have come a long way, there is much that needs to be done.

"In this regard, we have already started implementing the augmented National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) through a series of concerted efforts aimed at complete eradication of polio in 2014," he said.
Sharif said President Mamnoon Husssain has already launched the immunisation programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this month by convening a grand Jirga(a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus) where the he sought support of the local community especially the Ulema (Religious scholars) and the tribal leaders.
"I myself am personally supervising the Prime Minister's Polio Eradication Cell while my focal person Ayesha Reza Farooq is actively providing oversight and coordination between the federal ministers, provincial authorities and other stakeholders," he said.

"Vaccination desks at international airports, railway stations as well as on the highways have preemptively been setup to check the spread of polio," he said.

Paying tributes to polio workers, he said, "I salute their perseverance and commitment."
While addressing the security challenges, targeting of vaccination teams, and increased doubts due to fake immunisation programs, Sharif said that "security threats have made the task more challenging, however, polio is a menace, which threatens our future generations".
"We seek positive reinforcement from our partners and the support of the international community to augment our efforts," he added.