The government has been working hard to eradicate the paralyzing poliovirus, but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), have not relented in their commitment to do so.
Children under the age of five are primarily affected by polio, a highly contagious disease caused by the poliovirus. These children are malnourished and have weakened immune systems as a result of receiving insufficient or no vaccinations against polio and other childhood illnesses.
When the sickness infiltrates the nerve system, it can result in death or paralysis. The best method to shield kids from the debilitating disease polio is by vaccination, even if there is currently no cure for it.
Along with Afghanistan, Pakistan is one of the two nations in the world still experiencing polio outbreaks, though the number of cases there each year has dramatically decreased.
There have been four cases of polio in Pakistan this year, according to the most recent diagnosis, which was announced in Shikarpur on June 1.
Following the recent surge in environmental detections of the crippling disease, Gates expressed confidence that the polio eradication drive would resume its path to end the disease in a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday in Islamabad. He attributed this confidence to a sustained vaccination campaign and the Pakistani government’s firm commitment to the cause.
