UAE provides 116m polio vaccines to Pakistani children

The UAE Pakistan Programme said the polio drive benefited children in 66 areas in Kyber Pakthunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The UAE has provided more than 116 million polio vaccines to Pakistan children under five years old since 2014.

The UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme, which runs the Emirates Polio Campaign in Pakistan, said the drive benefited children in 66 areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas from January 2014 to the end of May 2016, Wam, the state news agency, reported on Saturday.

The project is part of the UAE Government’s pledge made in 2013 to provide Dh440 million for supporting global efforts towards eradicating polio by 2018, with a focus on Pakistan, which has one of the world’s highest rates of polio infection.

In 2011, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, announced they were working together to provide life-saving vaccinations to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The partnership commits a total of US$100 million – $50 million from each partner – for the purchase and delivery of vital vaccines that will prevent polio in Afghan and Pakistani children.

The project’s administration said that the polio vaccination campaign is being carried out on schedule and has been accompanied by an educational campaign to promote awareness of the highly infectious disease, which attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis or death.