TAG optimistic of Pakistan progress on polio

"We still have areas that could risk it all," cautions chair

Vaccinating children at a railway station in Quetta. UNICEF/PAK2015/Waseem Niaz

January 29, Islamabad: Pakistan’s polio eradication initiative has been put under the microscope by members of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) in Islamabad this week as they review recent progress made in the fight to eradicate the disease from one of the world’s last reservoirs.

TAG Chair Jean Marc Olive said Pakistan colleagues presented TAG with a comprehensive picture of the epidemiological situation across the country, indicating that the initiatives and interventions that are being used show the country is on the right track to end transmission.

“In spite of this, we still have areas that could risk it all. Not only the Kyber-Peshawar-Nahangar corridor as highlighted by the Independent Monitoring Board , but in Karachi we have another hub of transmission. We need to put the maximum energy into Karachi.”

“If we increase our sensitivity, move closer to the ground with our interventions and focus more and more on the small scale, Pakistan will make it. I am confident of that.”