Within the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to eradicate poliomyelitis in the world .. The management of the UAE project to help Pakistan revealed the implementation of the first vaccination campaign against polio in the world in light of the spread of the "Corona" virus The new, targeted more than 766 thousand Pakistani children under the age of five years, and was able to deliver vaccines and vaccinate 722 thousand and 500 children against polio with a success rate of 94.3%.
The director of the Emirati project to help Pakistan, Abdullah Khalifa Al-Ghafli, stressed that the campaign that was implemented during the period from 20 to 26 July last represents a field translation of the guidance of the rational leadership in strengthening global efforts aimed at limiting the spread of epidemics and preventing negative health consequences experienced by children in the affected areas in the world. It also comes within the noble humanitarian principles and principles of the UAE by committing to assisting the needy and poor people, developing human development programs, caring for the human being and the group of children in need of preventive health care, and protection from diseases and epidemics.
Al-Ghafli pointed to the exceptional importance of this campaign, which is the first campaign implemented in the world to vaccinate children against polio after the campaigns stopped for nearly 4 months due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus, pointing out that the goal of implementing the campaign is to besiege the areas of the spread of the polio virus that reached The number of injuries this year in Pakistan is 60.
He explained that a field plan was adopted to target more than 766 thousand children in areas with high security risk, whose children are considered the most threatened and vulnerable to HIV infection, and the geographical scope of the campaign included the region of South Waziristan in the tribal areas region, the city of Quetta in the province of Balochistan, the area of Atk and Faisalabad In Punjab, the city of Karachi, Sindh.
He noted that this campaign was carried out amid modern procedures and measures with high preventive standards, as more than 3465 vaccination teams and security personnel participated in their implementation, after receiving training courses to qualify them to perform the task in light of field challenges and risks related to their protection and safety, and to ensure the protection of children targeted by vaccination from infection with a virus Corona was also provided with personal protective equipment that includes clothes, masks, gloves, and sterilization materials, in addition to implementing a new media and social awareness plan to encourage parents and urge them to take the initiative to vaccinate their children and protect them from polio, in addition to protecting them from exposure to the risk of contracting the Corona virus.
He pointed out that the precautionary measures for vaccination teams during the implementation of the campaign included conducting comprehensive checks for them and ensuring their safety from infection with the Corona virus before participating in the campaign, and preventing the participation of those over 50 years of age in the campaign, as well as preventing the participation of any person with chronic diseases, and not increasing the number of any team Vaccination for two individuals, preventing them from touching children directly during the vaccination, and protecting vaccines from touching from any other party, in addition to another preventive measure directed at parents of children related to sterilizing their hands before vaccinating their children, and distributing free masks to them.
The director of the UAE project to help Pakistan announced the implementation of a new campaign for polio vaccination on 17 August, which will last for 10 days, targeting 15 million and 526 thousand children in 85 regions in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with the participation of 96 thousand elements of vaccination and security teams.
It is worth noting that the UAE polio vaccination campaign started in 2014 and managed until 2020 to give 455 million, 956 thousand and 226 vaccination doses to more than 86 million Pakistani children.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, has provided since 2011 a sum of 327.8 million US dollars as a contribution from His Highness in supporting global efforts to eradicate polio, with a special focus on Pakistan and Afghanistan.
These campaigns were carried out in coordination and joint cooperation with the leadership of the Pakistani army, UNICEF, WHO, the Pakistani Ministry of Health and ministries of health in the provincial governments and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where all the participating parties were keen to enhance the success of the campaign efforts, support the efforts of vaccination and insurance teams, and plan and organize vaccination operations for the targeted children And follow-up field implementation of the campaign stages.