The philanthropist Bill Gates was optimistic about the global plan to eradicate the paralyzing viral disease, Gates urges Pakistan to completely get rid of Polio to save millions of precious lives.
“We’ve got to get Afghanistan and Pakistan to zero,” Gates said “We need government donors to stay committed.”
Gates aforesaid that the global polio program is making progress in Pakistan and has a good relationship with Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has prioritized the polio fight.
The “only potential negative” in the region is unsteadiness in Afghanistan, where Taliban leaders come into view to have no solitary policy but “decide what they will and what they won’t allow” concerning polio vaccinations.
According to the Latest Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) statistics show that worldwide, there were 33 cases of polio in 2018 and six so far in 2019 – 16 of them in Pakistan and 23 in Afghanistan. These two, plus Nigeria, are the last residual countries where the disease is prevalent.
The GPEI, which includes the WHO, the Gates Foundation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International and others, commenced its drive to clean out polio in 1988, when the disease was widespread in 125 countries and was paralyzing approximately 1,000 children a day universally.