Excerpt From “A Deadly Foe. The International News, 2017 December. Written by Beena Sarwar.
“As 2017 draws to a close, it is worth highlighting a quiet success story underlying the headlines about Pakistan. This is a country on the verge of eliminating a foe that poses a critical threat not just within national borders but also the region. The dramatic drop in polio cases over the past three years – down by a whopping 99 percent, from 306 cases in 2014 to just 8 in 2017 so far – shows what political will, commitment, coordination and consistency can achieve.
The progress against polio in Pakistan “is a hard fought, hard earned gain, substantiated by solid evidence,” says Dr Hamid Jafari, principal deputy director for the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). “This is not the time to be skeptical.” He should know. Heading the polio eradication team in India on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2007-2012, he helped India become polio-free, one step closer to the region becoming polio-free.”
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has added momentum – and dollars – to the polio campaign spearheaded by Rotary International, along with the WHO, the CDC, and Unicef. Their Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the world’s largest public-private partnership, works with national governments and millions of volunteers. The GPEI has raised $14 billion international investment towards a polio-free world. But this is about more than money. “It’s the passion, commitment and energy” of those driven by the vision of a polio-free future, as Dr Tedros, the new Director General of WHO noted. “Health for all and all for health”. Highlighting the work of Pakistan’s polio workers, Gates said the campaign is a “testament to the kindness, compassion and spirit of helping others.””
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