President Zardari urges all stakeholders to work for polio eradication

Reiterating his call for the active involvement of all segments of society in eradicating polio from the country, President Asif Ali Zardari has urged all segments of society including religious scholars, media, non-governmental organizations and civil society to play there active role.

The president while presiding a meeting underscored the involvement of Ulema and tribal leaders for the success of anti-polio drive in the tribal areas.

While emphasizing upon the need for the same level of spirit and dedication at the union council level in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas as in other parts of the country, he said that all state functionaries should support the polio administration in covering the inaccessible areas.

“Involvement of local community, especially the females, was crucial for convincing the parents about the benefits of Polio vaccines and neutralizing negative propaganda and misperceptions”, he added.

President Zardari also appreciated the assistance of the international community and organization in eradication of Polio.

He also called upon the representatives of international bodies present at the meeting to use their experience of working in various conflict zones globally for the success of Polio campaigns in inaccessible areas.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, gave briefing to the meeting about the efforts being undertaken by the government to eradicate polio virus from the country.

Later, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Capt (Retd) Ghulam Dastghir Akhtar and FATA Additional Chief Secretary Dr Tashfeen Ahmad gave an overview about the latest situation in the province and various areas of FATA.

The officials also informed the meeting that as of today, 13 cases were reported in FATA and frontier regions, 8 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 3 each in Sindh and Blaochistan and 02 in Punjab whereas Gilgit-Baltistan was Polio-free.

It was informed that for the corresponding period in the last year, the number of cases reported in Fata were 23, KP 6, Sindh 14, Balochistan 29, zero in Punjab and one in Gilgit-Baltistan.

It was informed that though the number of cases, as of today, have been significantly reduced i.e. from 73 to 29, yet it was not a satisfactory situation keeping in view the commitment being shown at the highest level.