Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates has appreciated the Pakistan army for supporting national polio drive, ensuring proper reach and coverage.
During a telephonic conversation with Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Bill Gates also appreciated Pakistan’s success against COVID-19 despite resource constraints.
The army chief attributed the success to a true national response, executed through the mechanism of NCOC which allowed optimization of resources.
Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said that it was a national cause and credit goes to all involved in the process.
The COAS appreciated his efforts towards this noble cause and assured him continued cooperation.
Matters related to Pakistan’s commitment for comprehensive Polio eradication and COVID-19 were discussed during the conversation.
The Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme has been fighting to end the crippling poliovirus for over 25 years. The initiative is driven by up to 285,000 polio vaccinators, the largest surveillance network in the world, quality data collection and analysis, state of the art laboratories, and some of the best epidemiologists and public health experts in Pakistan and the world.
Pakistan, Afghanistan are the only two countries left in the world where the poliovirus continues to threaten the health and well-being of children. Since 1994, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme has been committed to ending polio virus transmission in Pakistan. Through its efforts, case numbers have declined by up to 99% from the 20,000 cases that were reported in the early 1990s.
