Polio eradication: Aseefa Bhutto lauds Bill Gates' contribution

Pakistan's Goodwill Ambassador for Polio Eradication and daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday lauded the generous contributions of Bill Gates towards making Pakistan a polio free country through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"I want to thank Bill Gates, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, who are working together to vaccinate a generation of children in Afghanistan and Pakistan against preventable, deadly diseases," said Aseefa Bhutto Zardari in a statement.
"Diseases know no borders and mankind has a collective responsibility towards children of the world and together we must strive to ensure that tomorrow's world is free of this scourge", she added. "The initiative taken by Bill Gates and Sheikh Mohammad in this regard is most laudable and I wish to them for it".
The Gates and Melinda Foundation and Sheikh Mohammad together have committed a total of $100 million - $50 million each - for the life saving childhood immunisation programmes. The partnership programme is expected to reach out to 35 million children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, mostly in Pakistan with oral polio vaccines. Of the $100 million commitment, $34 million will be spent on polio vaccine delivery through the World Health Organisation and UNICEF in Pakistan and Afghanistan, two of only four countries where polio still afflicts children besides India and Nigeria.
It may be recalled that President Zardari recently called for an emergency action plan to intensify efforts and remove bottlenecks in the polio-eradication drive. The plan was endorsed in a meeting of Chief Ministers of all provinces chaired by the Prime Minister last month and formally launched by President Zardari last week.
President Zardari also held a meeting with Bill Gates during his last visit to the US and discussed with him the modalities of the anti-polio drive in the country and how it can be augmented by the international community. Aseefa Bhutto Zardari said that the government would not rest till the scourge has been completely eliminated. She also called upon philanthropists and well-to-do people to come forward and help in the drive.-PR