EOCP To Celebrate World Polio Day On Sunday

The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio (EOCP) in Sindh will celebrate World Polio Day across the province on October 24

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Oct, 2021 ) :The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio (EOCP) in Sindh will celebrate World Polio Day across the province on October 24.

Events include grand cycle rallies and races, seminars and awareness sessions with civil society, motivation sessions for workers, cricket matches, walks and carnivals across the province to mark the day and to raise awareness on the benefits of vaccination and the dangers associated with the polio virus, said a press release.

The annual observance of World Polio Day on October 24 is to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, the developer of a vaccine against polio. Salk's inactivated vaccine and Albert Bruce Sabin's oral vaccine helped save millions of children.

Just in the last two decades more than 3 billion children have been administered the polio vaccine which has prevented at least 10 million polio cases.

"On this day we must recognize the efforts of frontline workers who are not only providing the polio vaccine to children but have also been instrumental in containing the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan, we really must appreciate the work they have done" said Fayaz Abbasi, Coordinator EOC Sindh.

Sindh has not reported a polio case since July 2020 while the environment samples of the province are also showing a negative trend. The promise of a polio free world was made 33 years ago at the 41st World Health Assembly and since then the world has achieved a 99.9% reduction in wild poliovirus transmission, Fayaz Abbasi said.

Now only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain polio endemic but the latest epidemiological trends suggest that we are now running the final mile to end polio from the world. "It is time now to deliver on this promise, no child should be disabled by a disease that is vaccine preventable, things are on the right track but we must not get complacent and double our efforts, we are running the final mile in polio eradication and often the final mile is the toughest," he told.

The EOC also wants to recognize the contribution made by partners such as the Pakistan Pediatric Association, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, Rotary Pakistan, the Memon Federation, the religious scholars, the media, international partners and many others who have whole heartedly supported the polio programme and shown tremendous commitment towards this cause.