ISLAMABAD: Nigeria, which has security issues similar to Pakistan, completed one year without reporting a single polio case.

Now Pakistan and Afghanistan are only countries on the globe which are reporting polio cases.

But the National Health Services (NHS) minister, Saira Afzal Tarar claims that virus will be eradicated from Pakistan because of the recent steps taken by the ministry.

Despite various steps, including the religious scholars support to the campaign and army’s protection to the polio workers, Pakistan has failed to eradicate the polio virus.

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which works on behalf of the international donor agencies and issues reports regarding performance of the countries after every six months, has on a number of occasions showed reservation over the efforts of the government for eradication of the polio virus.

In November 2012, IMB recommended travel restrictions on Pakistan and finally got them implemented on May 5, 2014 due to which every person, who travels abroad from Pakistan, is bound to provide vaccination certificate for traveling.

An official of the ministry of NHS requesting not to be identified said that Nigeria, which was one of the three polio endemic countries in the world, has achieved the target of being polio free for one year.

Now it has to maintain polio free status for another two years to remove itself from the list of polio endemic countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Just like Pakistan, Nigeria also faces security issues and some elements imposed a ban on polio vaccination by declaring it ‘Haram’. Even in 2013, as many as nine polio workers were shot dead in Nigeria,” he said.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries, which have reported polio cases virus in 2015,” he said.

Minister NHS Saira Afzal Tarar while talking to Dawn said steps were being taken to eradicate the polio virus and that was why only 28 cases of polio have been reported in 2015 as compared to 306 cases in 2014.

“Nigeria integrated polio and other immunization campaign and achieved success. We are also considering merging Expanded Programme on Immunization and polio programme,” she said.

“Moreover Pakistan and Afghanistan will make joint efforts o eradicate the polio virus especially in Afghan border areas,” she said.

“I am going to Punjab next week and have decided to visit all the provinces to ensure that not a single child is missed during polio campaigns,” she said.

“Security threat to polio worker has decreased because of the operation in Fata and Karachi. So hopefully polio virus will be eradicated from Pakistan,” she said.

Explore: Wheelchairs for Nigeria: Getting polio survivors on the move

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015

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