Japan announces $3.1mn grant to support Pakistan's polio drive

ISLAMABAD: Japan has announced a new $3.1 million grant to procure essential oral polio vaccines as part of its continued support of polio eradication efforts in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s polio program will use these funds to procure more than 20.22 million doses of vaccines to support polio campaigns in 2025.

In 2024, Pakistan has reported a total of 59 cases of polio. With the current surge in polio cases, the government of Pakistan, in collaboration with its partners, is set to implement an extensive and strategic action plan in 2025 aimed at eradicating this life-threatening disease among children.

Each national immunization drive targets over 45.4 million children under the age of five, with more than 400,000 frontline workers, predominantly women, playing a crucial role in ensuring the polio programme’s outreach.

“The challenges faced in 2024 have underscored the critical need to accelerate our efforts to eradicate polio. With Japan’s continued support, we are further strengthened to intensify our efforts, aiming to achieve zero polio cases by mid-2025,” stated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s focal person on polio eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq.

TAKANO Shuichi, Charge d’ Affaires ad interim of Japan to Pakistan, said “Japan has supported Pakistan to eradicate polio for nearly 30 years despite hindrances such as floods, COVID, and terrorist attacks.”

The new funding is part of Japan’s continuous support for the Polio Eradication program since 1996.

To date, the grant and loan contribution from Japan has amounted to $242.194 million to support the polio programme in Pakistan through UNICEF.