Pak-Afghan polio teams to work jointly for polio free region

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Polio teams of Pakistan and Afghanistan gathered here on Wednesday to deliberate on mutual challenges and issues confronted by both states during the course of polio eradication.

The meeting agreed on improving the cross border coordination mechanism to push polio virus to the final finish line.

The meeting was organized in the backdrop of the recent outbreak in the South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and South Eastern Afghanistan block.

The basic aim of the encounter was to review status in the common polio reservoirs, epidemiological block and joint planning to address the outbreaks.

Leading the meeting jointly, Prime Minister’s Polio Focal Person Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq and Dr Hidayatullah Satenkzai, National Polio Focal Person, Ministry of Public Health, Government of Afghanistan agreed on closing remaining coordination gaps at the provincial, regional and territory level.

They checked to produce specific programs to strengthen SIAs quality and micro-synchronization along the border; mapping and strengthening vaccination of high-risk mobile population and achieving eradication-level AFP surveillance indicators.

Dr Hidayatullah Satenkzai underscored the need for blocking out all mobile populations for polio vaccination as over one million population across the border formally.

He highly appreciated the joint team work of Pakistan and Afghanistan polio teams and emphasized polio eradication as a collective responsibility over and above any political difference.