Within the initiative of Mohammed bin Zayed ... the vaccination of more than 16 million Pakistani children against polio

As part of 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 polio in the world .. The Emirati Project to Help Pakistan announced the success of the UAE's polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan by overcoming the challenges of the spread of the new Corona virus and reaching To more than 16 million children, and provide them with 28 million doses of vaccination, between July and September 2020.

This announcement coincides with the World Polio Day, which falls on October 24 of each year, and is an occasion to raise awareness of the need for concerted international efforts to eradicate this disease once and for all.

Since its launch, the campaign has provided 483 million vaccination doses, reaching 86 million children in various regions of Pakistan, thanks to the concerted efforts of 106,000 workers, practitioners, doctors, nurses, and more than 25,000 safety and security personnel.

The campaign usually reaches nearly 16 million Pakistani children per month, and while these numbers are affected by the spread of the new Corona virus, the program expects to return to this rate very soon.

The UAE campaign to vaccinate against polio comes within the framework of the Emirati project to aid Pakistan, which was launched based on the directives of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, "may God protect him" and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Forces Armed Forces, in order to extend a helping hand and humanitarian assistance to the Pakistani people and support their development efforts towards achieving a better future.

Since 2014, the UAE has provided a lot of its resources and expertise in the field in Pakistan through the UAE polio vaccination campaign.

It has provided vaccines and aid to remote and previously inaccessible areas there.

The UAE has always played a pioneering role in combating the spread of polio at the international level, inspired by the foundations and ideals established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, "may God have mercy on him", as it actively participated in cooperation with its partners in the international efforts in this regard, and made a lot Of its resources and experience in the field in Pakistan through the UAE polio vaccination campaign.

Since 2011, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has allocated more than $ 250 million to support international efforts to eradicate polio, which reflects and confirms his personal commitment to eradicating preventable diseases that negatively affect the poorest and underserved societies. Health around the world, and extend a helping hand to millions of young and old to enjoy a healthy and decent life.

In 2019, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan hosted the moment of announcing the pledges for the Global Initiative to Eradicate Polio at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum, which raised more than $ 2.8 billion, and His Highness is one of the most prominent supporters of health workers on the front lines of polio. , Through the HOPE Awards and the REACH Awards.

This year, the new Corona virus stopped vaccination campaigns all over the world and warned the health community of the possibility of a new polio crisis, but the UAE succeeded in overcoming these new challenges and was the first country to resume vaccination through the UAE campaign to vaccinate against polio in Pakistan.

The campaign is carried out in accordance with modern procedures and measures and with high preventive standards, including the holding of training courses to qualify the staff to perform the task in light of field challenges and risks related to their protection and safety, and to ensure that children targeted for vaccination are protected from infection with the "Corona" virus, and they have been provided with personal protective equipment including clothes, masks, gloves and materials Sterilization, 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 prevent them from contracting polio, in addition to protecting them from exposure to the risk of infection with the Coronavirus.

The precautionary measures for the 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, preventing the participation of people over 50 years old in the campaign, as well as preventing the participation of any person with chronic diseases, and not increasing the number of any vaccination team. For two individuals, preventing them from directly touching children during vaccination, protecting vaccines from being touched by any other party, in addition to another preventive measure directed to parents of children related to sterilizing their hands before vaccinating their children, and distributing free masks to them.

Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, Director of the UAE Project to Help Pakistan, on the occasion of the announcement of the UAE campaign for polio vaccination, confirmed its latest statistics that the campaign reflects the interest of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to strengthen international cooperation to prevent the spread of polio and protect children from preventable diseases.

Al Ghafli said that the humanitarian directives and vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the support provided by His Highness to the global efforts to eradicate polio ... are among the main pillars that have contributed to limiting the spread of the disease among children of needy communities in various regions of the world.

He pointed out that the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to eradicate polio in the world is one of the most important humanitarian health initiatives that have proven effective and successful in the most difficult and largest incubating areas of the disease in Pakistan and Afghanistan and have been able to achieve its noble humanitarian goals, and support global efforts and programs of the United Nations Organization Empowering countries and governments to develop and upgrade their health programs to protect societies from diseases and epidemics, and to promote and develop the safety, health and future of children and ward off risks from the shoulders of poor societies.

He added that, under the directives of His Highness, the United Arab Emirates has become a major center for monitoring diseases and infectious epidemics, and a vital starting point for joint global efforts to eradicate and eliminate them from endemic areas, in addition to the UAE's commitment and undertaking to organize and manage international efforts to mobilize resources and launch future initiatives and strategies aimed at improving health. A quality of life for a person.

The Director of the UAE Project to Help Pakistan stated that the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to eradicate polio in the world has contributed internationally to achieving humanitarian alliances and positive strategic partnerships with governments and organizations of the United Nations, including UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and international charitable institutions such as the Bill and Malinda Foundation. Gates, through cooperation and coordination in developing methods of planning, implementing and developing polio vaccination campaigns, which is the aspect that raised the level of success in reaching innocent children, and increasing the rate of achievement in the countries targeted by vaccination campaigns ... indicating that the strategic partnership between His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation presented an encouraging initiative to honor a number of vaccination team workers who have dedicated their lives to eradicating polio through the "Champions Award for Polio Eradication" and the "Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Award for Global Health." "With the aim of shedding light on the field efforts being made to eradicate polio despite the difficult and dangerous conditions it faces

Members of the vaccination teams working to eradicate this disease.

Al-Ghafli added that the occasion of World Polio Day represents a humanitarian message whose content is commitment and international cooperation to protect innocent children and ensure that they have access to basic vaccines and vaccinations that protect them from diseases and epidemics, especially polio, and support the efforts and sacrifices of all contributors and workers in the field to achieve this humanitarian goal.

It is worth noting that despite the decrease in polio incidence by 99 percent worldwide since 1988, the risk of the disease returning in large numbers remains, as Pakistan witnessed a significant increase in the number of cases last year, which reached 147 cases, while 77 cases were recorded so far. In 2020, more than the past four years combined.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world that have recorded cases of polio, despite the frequent reports of the possibility of re-emergence of the disease in other countries.

The efforts of mankind have not succeeded in completely eliminating any disease except smallpox, therefore, the eradication of polio will be a historic achievement, and the efforts of the UAE campaign to vaccinate against polio will help accumulate experiences that support efforts to eliminate any other diseases in the future.

International efforts to eradicate the disease are being made under the umbrella of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is a public-private partnership adopted by national governments in cooperation with five main partners: the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / United States / and the United Nations Childhood / UNICEF / and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Poliomyelitis is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, and it attacks the nervous system, and can cause paralysis within hours, and polio spreads through contact between people.

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