UAE helps vaccinate more than 102 million children against polio in Pakistan

583 million doses of the polio vaccine have been administered since 2014

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  A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a door-to-door campaign in Karachi, Pakistan. AFP

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  A girl gets her finger marked after she is administered polio vaccine drops at a civil dispensary in Peshawar. Reuters

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  A girl receives vaccine drops during an anti-polio campaign in a low-income neighbourhood in Karachi. Reuters

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  A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a polio vaccination campaign at a slum area in Lahore. AFP

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  Security officials offer funeral prayers for a slain policeman killed in an attack on polio vaccination workers in Karak, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. AFP

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  A boy gets his finger marked after he is administered polio vaccine drops in Karachi. Reuters

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  A health worker administers polio vaccine drops in Lahore. AFP

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  A boy receives polio vaccine drops in Karachi. Reuters

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  Policemen escort health workers during a polio vaccination door-to-door campaign in a slum area in Islamabad. AFP

The Emirates has helped vaccinate more than 102 million children against polio in Pakistan in the past eight years, the UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme announced on Saturday.

More than 583 million doses of polio vaccine were administered from 2014 to the end of September 2021, as part of the UAE Polio Vaccination campaign.

This announcement came ahead of World Polio Day on Sunday.

The programme was launched by the directive of the President, Sheikh Khalifa, with the support of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Polio is caused by the poliovirus, which attacks the spinal cord and causes paralysis.

Since 2011, Sheikh Mohamed has donated $250 million to humanitarian and charity efforts aimed at providing vaccines and financing polio eradication campaigns.

Abdulrahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said the UAE represents "an exemplary role model in polio control and eradication".

Officials in Pakistan said the country has its best chance ever to stamp out polio, after a surprise drop in cases possibly caused by Covid lockdowns over the past year.

The world's fifth-most populous country has seen cases drop to almost nothing only a year after international monitors warned its eradication programme was performing badly and heading for disaster.

Dr Shahzad Baig, who co-ordinates Pakistan's national operations centre for polio eradication, said the signs were “very, very positive”.

Young Afghans receive polio vaccine - in pictures

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  A child receives polio vaccine drops in the western Afghan city of Herat after the UN children's fund said the Taliban agreed to allow the UN to carry out a nationwide campaign. Photo: AFP

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  Health workers will go door to door to administer the vaccine drops. Photo: EPA

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  A third of the 10 million children in Afghanistan under the age of 5 have not had access to vaccines in recent years owing to violence and a Taliban ban in areas under their control. Photo: AFP

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  Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries where polio is still endemic. Photo: AFP

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  Men carry the body of a female polio vaccine worker killed by gunmen in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

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  An Afghan mourns the death of his brother, who was one of the health workers shot and killed in Jalalabad. Photo: Reuters

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  A health worker marks thumb of a child who received the polio vaccine in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Photo: EPA

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  A Pakistani health worker gives the polio vaccine to an Afghan refugee as part of a campaign in Lahore. Photo: AFP