ISLAMABAD: The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for Polio at its meeting to be held on April 29 and 30 in Dubai will focus on security for the vaccinators and their access to the children in Pakistan.

However, the Pakistani team, which will have federal and provincial representation, is confident of convincing the IMB that they would soon eradicate the polio virus.

The IMB works on behalf of the international donor agencies and issues reports on the performance of the countries after every six months.

In November 2012, the IMB recommended the imposition of travel restrictions on Pakistanis which were implemented on May 5, 2014.

On June 2, 2014, the IMB in its report recommended replacing Prime Minister Polio Cell with ‘Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio’ by July 1, 2014, which should be supervised by the president and the prime minister.

However, the recommendations of the IMB regarding the establishment of EOC were not implemented.

The board meets in Dubai on April 29-30

In October 2014, the IMB released another report and sought handing over of the polio programme to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

In the report, the IMB termed Pakistan’s efforts to combat the disease a ‘disaster’. However, in December 2014, the polio programme established the EOC.

It is for the first time that the IMB has also invited provinces to get firsthand information about their efforts to combat the disease.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) on the condition of anonymity said though Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria would attend the meeting, the main focus of the IBM would be Pakistan because both Afghanistan and Nigeria had shown satisfactory results with regard to eradication and spread of the disease.

“In 2014, over 300 polio cases were reported in Pakistan. The figure, however, dropped a bit this year as so far 21 cases have been reported compared to 48 in the same period last year. But still Pakistan is the major source of concern for the international community,” he said.

“The IMB is a very powerful and influential body and if it is not satisfied it can recommend further travel restrictions on Pakistan. Moreover, this time the IMB has also called the provincial representatives to give an input on polio,” he said.

“During the meeting, security will be the main issue because around 80 polio and security workers have been killed during polio campaigns. There are chances to discuss one-day campaigns in Category I areas (70 high security districts) because not a single person has been killed during the one-day campaigns,” he said.

“The one-day campaigns have been safer may be because terrorists don’t find enough time to plan an attack during the one-day campaigns,” he said.

“Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Ayesha Raza Farooq, Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarar, head of EOC Dr Rana Safdar, chief secretaries of all provinces and secretary law and order Fata will participate in the meeting,” he said.

When contacted, Dr Rana Safdar told Dawn, “Our visit will convey a positive message to the international community that the country is united against polio. It has been decided to present the realities during the meeting. The IMB will be informed about the current data, tracking of missed children, third-party monitoring system, 60 per cent reduction in polio cases. Also, there were eight clusters of polio virus in Pakistan but now there are only four,” he said.

Replying to a question Dr Safdar said he knows that security would be major source of concern during the meeting so IMB will be informed that Cabinet Committee has been established and National Crisis Management Cell has been taken on board to resolve the issue of security.

“Army has been involved to ensure security so I am sure that IMB will be satisfied with our efforts to eradicate the disease,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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