Japan to give $ 59m loan to Pakistan for polio eradication
- By Web Desk -
- May 20, 2016
A Memorandum of Understanding to this effect was signed between the government of Pakistan and the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Islamabad.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan and representative of JICA were also present on the occasion.
Read more: Good neighbours ease fears in Pakistan polio fight
Ishaq Dar greatly appreciated Japan’s assistance to Pakistan in its efforts to eradicate polio from the country. Japanese Ambassador also commended Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate the disease from the country.
Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where polio, a crippling childhood disease, remains endemic.
In 2014 the number of polio cases recorded inPakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years, before falling to 54 in 2015.
Attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by militant attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed more than 100 lives since December 2012.