UAE’s ‘invaluable’ support in Pakistan

Support from the UAE has been vital in helping the polio vaccine reach the most troubled regions of Pakistan, says Ayesha Raza Farooq, the Pakistani prime minister's focal person for eradication of the disease.

ISLAMABAD // Support from the UAE has been vital in helping the polio vaccine reach the most troubled regions of Pakistan, said the coordinator of the programme.

Ayesha Raza Farooq, the Pakistani prime minister’s focal person for polio monitoring and eradication, said financial aid had enabled polio workers to treat children in areas that were previously inaccessible.

“The UAE support has been invaluable in rebuilding the trust of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federally administered tribal areas on polio activities,” she said from her office in Islamabad.

She said the UAE had recently agreed to fund an eight-month polio vaccination campaign, that would last up until May next year, at a cost of Dh103 million.

This came after a three-month vaccination campaign that ran from June to September in the federally administered tribal areas (Fata) and 11 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, both in the volatile north-west frontier region of the country.

Ms Farooq hoped that the UAE Government would continue its support until the polio was completely eradicated from Pakistan.

Ms Farooq also highlighted the role of Pakistani expatriates living in the UAE.

“Most of the Pakistanis living in the UAE are the sole breadwinner for their families. They can influence their families, relatives and friends to support the cause of polio eradication,” she said.

She said that the major challenge was the security of the polio workers because they were at constant risk of attack from militants, who falsely accuse them of being CIA operatives. About 60 people working on vaccination programmes have been killed since 2012.

“The polio workers feel threatened due to repeated and fatal attacks by extremist forces,” Ms Farooq said.

“At the same time, conducting polio vaccination campaigns in areas bordering Afghanistan, which are the active war zones, and reaching children, remain the biggest challenges,” she said. Nevertheless, she said the situation was improving because of collaboration between the UAE and the Pakistan military in the tribal areas.

“Apart from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, we also need the UAE Government’s support in Karachi, where security issues are hurting the vaccination efforts,” she said.

She said the government of Pakistan had taken major steps to improve the security of workers, along with supporting the families of those who had been killed.

“We have introduced several compensation awards to the families of deceased workers. The government’s commitment and resolve to eradicate polio cannot be shattered by such cowardly acts. We are thankful to the Government of the UAE for its moral, financial and political support.”

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the last three countries in the world to have an indigenous circulation of wild polio virus. This year Pakistan has had at least 200 new cases of polio, its highest number in 14 years, but is still 90 per cent polio-free.