Afghanistan-Pakistan Polio Eradication Meeting Held
Kabul, Afghanistan: In the Cross-Border Meeting (CBM) of Polio Eradication Programs of Afghanistan and Pakistan, besides other significant issues, the participants discussed about the practical strategies for stopping the poliovirus transmission between the two countries.
The two-day official meeting launched yesterday, 11 Oct 2023 in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan and will continue today as well in which the representatives of Polio Eradication Programs of both the countries participated.
The Director of National EOC, Dr. Nek Wali Shah Momin along-with the technical team represents Afghanistan in the CBM. He said that both sides discussed about the possible and effective ways to halt the transmission of poliovirus between the two countries.
Many people travel between Afghanistan and Pakistan increasing the likelihood of poliovirus transmission between the two nations, he continued.
He mentioned that during the official Cross-Border Meeting, the representatives of the Polio Eradication Programs of the two countries would work on productive strategies to prevent the transmission and spread of poliovirus.
Kamal Shah Sayed, the Communication Specialist for Polio Eradication Program in UNICEF said that the Cross-Border Meeting is held as an initiative of the polio programs of both the countries in which the representatives of UNICEF, WHO, BMGF, CDC and Rotary International participated.
According to him, the Cross-Border Meeting takes place every six months for strengthening the cross-border collaboration for polio eradication in both the countries.
Mr. Sayed expressed that until now, the participants exchanged views about the prevention of poliovirus transmission between the countries, vaccinating children on crossing points of the border and a number of collaboration strategies between the two sides.
Kamal Shah Sayed told that both teams would closely work on developing plans for managing misinformation to encourage people to vaccinate their children and eventually to eradicate the devastating disease of polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 2023, this is the second Cross-Border Meeting held in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
This CBM is taking place in a time where six polio cases and other thirty-nine positive environmental cases reported in Afghanistan and the poliovirus circulates in different parts of the neighboring Pakistan as well.
