ISLAMABAD   -    Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday stressed that Pa­kistan remained committed to end­ing all forms of polio in the country.

The prime minister had a tele­phone call with Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Bill Gates, the PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

The prime minister appreciated the valuable support extended by the BMGF to Pakistan in polio eradi­cation and improving immunisation, nutrition and financial inclusion, particularly during the recent floods. He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s de­sire to further strengthen the fruitful partnership with the Foundation in all the ongoing areas of cooperation.

While expressing concern over re­porting of new cases in 2022 after one year without any polio case, he noted that there had been a pause in polio cases since September 2022.

In light of the last year’s devas­tating floods, which had adverse­ly affected the ongoing polio vac­cination efforts due to large-scale displacements and destruction of healthcare infrastructure, the prime minister emphasized that the government was actively imple­menting the special emergency re­sponse plan and would continue to find and adopt ways to reach out to children in such times.

He apprised Gates of the efforts of the federal minister for national health services and his team to erad­icate polio from the country and ap­preciated those efforts.

Both sides also discussed other government-led programmes, sup­ported by the BMGF, to address mal­nutrition and stunting, essential im­munization services, micropayment gateway RAAST, and digitalization of the National Savings Programme.

Gates acknowledged Pakistan’s ef­forts to eradicate polio, while reit­erating his Foundation’s continued support to Pakistan in its aim to en­sure that no child would be at risk of paralysis due to poliovirus.

Both sides agreed to continue working together on the shared ob­jectives.