An end to polio is in sight, says President Sheikh Mohamed

The UAE has donated hundreds of millions of dirhams to support anti-polio vaccination drives in Pakistan, along with other humanitarian operations. Photo: Asim Hafeez

The UAE is playing an important role in the broad effort to eradicate polio in Pakistan. Wam

Pakistani children are being inoculated against the virus, under the UAE-Pakistan Assistance Programme. Wam

More than 100 million children in Pakistan have been vaccinated through the polio eradication campaign. Photo: Mobeen Ansari

President Sheikh Mohamed, while serving as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, greets Abdullah Al Ghufli director of the UAE-Pakistan Assistance Programme, after a panel discussion titled 'Every Last Child: Eradicating Polio', at Al Bateen Palace, in 2015. With them is Dr Elias Durry, Emergency Co-ordinator for Polio Eradication at the World Health Organisation. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr Al Ghufli, second left, Dr Durry, third left, and Tom Roberts, director of the documentary, 'Every Last Child', right, take part in the panel discussion, in 2015. With them is Dr Omniyat Al Hajri, director of public health and policy at the Health Authority - Abu Dhabi and the panel moderator. Presidential Court

Dr Durry speaks during the panel discussion. Photo: Presidential Court

The UAE supports campaigns against what are known as neglected tropical diseases, as well as malaria and polio.

President Sheikh Mohamed and philanthropist Bill Gates present the Heroes of Polio Eradication (Hope) Education award to Atta Ullah, chairman of a local support organisation in Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Pakistan, in 2015. Photo: Presidential Court

An Afghan health worker administers a polio vaccine in Kandahar. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic, crippling hundreds of children every year. Muhammed Sadiq / EPA

Children are immunised in Pakistan as part of the polio campaign supported by the Emirates. Wam

Support, both practical and financial, has been given to research and vaccination campaigns by the UAE for more than a decade. Wam

The launch of a polio and measles vaccination campaign for 20,000 children in Pakistan in September 2012. Photo: Wam

First as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, then as President, Sheikh Mohammed, has donated $250 million since 2014 to charities and humanitarian organisations organising polio eradication campaigns and vaccinating children. Photo: Presidential court

President Sheikh Mohamed on Monday said the hard work being done to eradicate polio means there is an end in sight to the debilitating and sometimes fatal disease.

Marking World Polio Day, Sheikh Mohamed thanked those who have been working towards achieving a polio-free world.

“On World Polio Day, I express my sincere gratitude to the many people, including health workers, whose dedication and hard work means an end to polio is in sight,” he said in a tweet posted on Monday.

“Together with our partners, we remain committed to continuing the fight towards achieving a polio-free world for all.”

Accompanying his message was a tweet from Reaching the Last Mile, the Abu Dhabi-based global partnership between philanthropists, governments and NGOs that aims to help eradicate preventable diseases.

The video shows the work of frontline health workers in Pakistan who reached 17 million children in the country this year.

“In 1988, poliovirus affected 125 countries,” said the message accompanying the video.

“Today it’s endemic in just two. Together with our partners, the Emirates Polio Campaign is working to end polio for good.

“On World Polio Day, we celebrate the brave frontline health workers who have reached 17m Pakistani children this year.”

Since 2011, Sheikh Mohamed has committed more than $376 million to support global polio eradication efforts, which is part of his commitment to end preventable diseases that affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Sunday pledged to invest $1.2 billion towards wiping out polio.

The donation will be managed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership led by governments that aims to end the disease by 2026.

“Polio eradication is within reach but as far as we have come, the disease remains a threat,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation.

Polio, full name poliomyelitis, is an infectious viral disease mostly affecting young children.

In a minority of cases, it causes paralysis and even death, although highly effective vaccines have massively reduced the condition’s global impact.

The disease remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where instability and resistance to vaccination programmes make it harder to control.

It has also recently re-emerged in developed nations, with New York recording the first case in the US for nearly 10 years.

An inactivated polio vaccine, given by injection, was introduced in 1955.

This was followed in 1961 by the oral polio vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to roll out, being administered as drops in the mouth.

By 1988, the threat of polio had fallen away significantly in western nations but, with the disease still endemic in 125 countries, there were about 350,000 cases caused by wild poliovirus, according to the World Health Organisation.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched that year. Involving the deployment of both vaccines, it has also entailed surveillance campaigns to detect the disease and immunisation drives when outbreaks have happened.

Last year, the wild poliovirus remained endemic only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and wild poliovirus resulted in just six reported cases.