Prime
Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq
appreciates and reinforces Canada’s commitment to support polio eradication in
Pakistan as well as its continued championship of the programme vis-à-vis other
donors.
She made these remarks while
briefing a high-level Canadian delegation comprising of David Hartman, Director
General of Global Affairs Canada, Joseph Sebhatu, Daniel Joly, Head of
Development Cooperation and First Secretary Development at National Emergency
operation Centre on Wednesday.
The Senator apprised the delegation
that Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for polio eradication in Pakistan highly
appreciated the programme’s progress in its recent meeting just held last week.
The TAG commended the high-level government commitment led by the Prime
Minister for the cause and tremendous support of the armed forces and law
enforcement agencies for ensuring access to all children in every corner of the
country especially in security compromised areas. The TAG endorsed all the
strategies outlined in NEAP 2017-18 including the SIAs schedule for the remainder
of low season. The TAG recommended to continue the intense focus on the current
hotspots to wipe out the virus from these zones to reach the goal of
interruption.
She said that government leadership
is fully committed to the National Emergency Action Plan, implemented via
focused Emergency Operations Centers at National and Provincial levels, with
emphasis on evidence-based decision making, a “one-team” approach, front-line
workers at the center of the polio eradication effort, effective oversight of
performance management and accountability, and a commitment to coordinate with
Afghanistan in order to reach and vaccinate high-risk groups. The Honourable
Prime Minister is providing personal leadership and oversight to the programme
and has convened multiple meetings on polio in last few months including
meeting of the National Task Force.
The senator said that as a result of
efforts Pakistan has made so far, the current polio epidemiology remains the
best we have ever seen in the country. The number of cases has declined from
306 in 2014 to 53 in 2015, and to 20 in 2016. So far this year, the number of
polio cases reported in Pakistan are six; 2 from Karachi (Sindh) and one each
from Lodhran (Punjab), Diamer (GB), Killa Abdullah (Balochistan) and Lakki Marwat
(KP) compared to 19 reported by 6th December in 2016 (indicating a 68%
decline). All of these cases have been contained through aggressive outbreak
response.
David Hartman, Director General of
Global Affairs Canada appreciated the progress made by Pakistan Polio Programme
by saying that “Canada remains a proud donor to GPEI and will continue to do so
until “the job is done”. Commending the tremendous turn around Pakistan polio
programme has made in the past couple of years, David Hartman said that Canada
will be a willing partner till the job the finished. He said that under the
Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) we recognize that
supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is imperative
to build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world. He said that since
Pakistan polio eradication programme works with thousands of female front-line
workers – almost 58% workforce is female, FIAP aims to support that with the
greatest potential to close gender gaps and improve everyone’s chance for
success. But it also works across other action areas that reflect the
multidimensional nature of poverty, in support of the Sustainable Development
Goals. Working in this way aims to lead to better development results and benefits
everyone, including men and boys.
