ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday said the federal government was fully committed to winning the battle against polio to ensure that their children would never again be afflicted by the virus.
“We are at the last mile of our cherished goal of polio eradication,” the prime minister said in his message on ‘World Polio Day’ which is annually observed across the globe on October 24.
“We are fighting an intense final battle with the virus in selected pockets of the Country.”
The prime minister said few ideas had greater gravity than the eradication of a human disease – just as people now lived free from the fear of smallpox, so a polio-free world was within their grasp.
Thanking to concerted polio eradication efforts, Abbasi said today more than 16 million people worldwide, who would otherwise be paralyzed, were able to walk. That meant 500,000 people from Pakistan could walk who would otherwise have been affected, he said.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Pakistan was one of the last three Countries remaining with the wild poliovirus.
“We have been close to eradication before and now after almost three decades worth of investments, efforts and sacrifices we are at the closest point to interrupting poliovirus transmission in Pakistan and then to finally eradicating it,” the prime minister said.
“Let us resolve on this World Polio Day that we will give no room for the poliovirus to find any sanctuary within our communities or our homes,” he added.
The prime minister also thanked their hardworking Sehat Muhafiz who reached out to children across the length and breadth of their Country. He said their dedication had played an important role in bringing them so close to polio eradication.
“I would also like to sincerely thank the leadership of all the political parties, religious scholars, defence forces and security personnel for showing exemplary support towards this national cause,” he said.
Abbasi further said when their people came together towards a national cause there was nothing they could not achieve.
