The government of Japan assures its continuous support for the polio eradication initiative in Pakistan by extending a grant of four million dollars to procure 23.8 million doses of oral polio vaccine. The vaccine will be administered to children under the age of five.
In this regard, an agreement signing ceremony was held on Monday between Seiji Kojima, Ambassador of Japan and Martin Mongwanja, Unicef representative, Pakistan. Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, Secretary for Health was also present to witness the signing.
Speaking on occasion, Seiji Kojima said that Japan is proud of a decade long partnership with Unicef and the ministry of health, Pakistan. He also stated that the target is to bring the transmission of debilitating poliovirus to an end, and this is certainly achievable through continuous collaboration and the involvement of tireless assistance of thousands of health workers, volunteers and community workers.
He also expressed his hoped that the Japanese grant would be used effectively to alleviate the suffering of all the children, especially of those children who are in the earthquake affected areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, mountainous regions of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Fata.
The government of Japan's support for the year 2008 constitutes 10 percent of the total polio vaccine requirement in Pakistan. The total contribution of the Japanese government to this project since 1996 adds up to 73 million dollars, a sum which has been significant in reducing the number of polio cases.
The Jica has also started a technical cooperation project from 2006 to 2011 with the funding of 3.4 million dollars for controlling the spread of infectious diseases including polio. Since 1996, government of Japan has totally contributed an amount of 72.92 million dollars for this project.