PESHAWAR - A three member Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) mission led by Secretary IMB Paul Rutter visited Emergency Operation Centres (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA to get an updated status of polio in the respective areas, with focus on major challenges and way forward.
Secretary Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mushtaq Jadoon, EOC Coordinator KP Akbar Khan, DG Health Services KP Dr Pervaiz Kamal, Acting DD EPI Dr Taimur Shah, senior representatives of UNICEF, WHO, BMGF, UPEP, National Coordinator EOC Rana Safdar, representatives of GHQ and headquarter 11 Corps, police, PPHI were in attendance.
Speaking on the occasion after the detailed briefing by department of health Khyber Pakhtunkhkwa on the polio eradication interventions made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, Paul Rutter appreciated the efforts of the team and all the other partners including law enforcement agencies and army for extending support to the vaccinators and making polio campaigns successful despite facing a number of challenges.
He said, "Had it not been for the teams' efforts, the number of polio cases might have surged much higher in this part of the globe." Secretary Health KP Mashtaq Jadoon said that the government was determined to root out polio from the region and underscored the need for reviewing and revamping the existing plans to achieve the desired goals.
He said that the district administration led by deputy commissioners were leading the programme in their respective districts and appreciated the coordination with the partners including UNICEF and WHO, who were providing technical guidance to the government for polio eradication.
Polio Team Leader Dr Bilal underlined the need for strengthening of district health management system and more focus on preparatory phase of the campaigns in line with guidelines of National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP).
It is relevant to mention here that Independent Monitoring Board assesses progress towards the attainment of a polio-free world. The IMB is comprised of global experts from a variety of fields relevant to the work of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and was established at the request of the Executive Board (EB) and the World Health Assembly (WHA).
Reports from the board's quarterly meetings go directly to the heads of the spearheading partner agencies - the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF - and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and are public shortly afterwards.