ISLAMABAD, July 7: Being Polio Champion, cricketing star Shahid Afridi will help limit the spread of the disease and give awareness to the people through advertisement to ensure that no child is left unvaccinated during the campaigns.

Afridi joined representatives of the national polio eradication initiative on Saturday from the Prime Minister’s Monitoring and Coordination Cell for Polio Eradication, UNICEF and WHO to announce his commitment to help ensure that no child is left unvaccinated and no child is paralysed by polio in PakistanCommenting over the disease during his brief media statement Afridi said: “It is an honour for me to donate my time to help Pakistan rid of polio………….I can deliver the message that reaching every child, every time with the polio vaccine is not only necessary, but it is our duty.”

Afridi hails from the Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and is from a Pashtun family. In 2011, Pashtuns accounted for nearly 77 per cent of all polio cases.

“We couldn’t be more delighted to have Mr Afridi join the polio eradication team in Pakistan,” said the adviser to the prime minister managing the focal point for the Prime Minister’s Monitoring Cell, Ms Shahnaz Wazir Ali.

“Afridi is a true Pakistani cricket hero and will help us deliver important messages to some of the hardest to reach areas of the country,” said Ms Wazir.

In the first six months of 2012, Pakistan22 confirmed polio cases in 13 districts,  down from 58 in 24 districts during the same period in 2011.