Pakistan thanks Saudi Arabia for $500m pledge for polio eradication
Pakistan last year reported a total of 74 polio cases
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Pakistan’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq this week thanked Saudi Arabia for its $500 million pledge to eradicate poliovirus as the South Asian country struggles to contain the virus from spreading.
Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its $500 million pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the World Health Organization announced on Monday. The funds, initially pledged in April 2024, will be disbursed to help end the wild form of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and stop outbreaks of variant polio.
Wild polio, a naturally occurring form of the viral disease, is endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which together reported 99 cases last year, according to the WHO. Variant polio is caused by the weakening of the oral polio vaccine.
Farooq participated in the Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum, held from Feb. 24-25 in the Saudi capital, where she took part in a panel discussion on the topic: ‘Ending Polio & Strengthening Health Systems amid Humanitarian Crises.’
“Also expressed my gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia @KSRelief_EN for generous support to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which will be used to vaccinate & protect children against a debilitating disease like polio,” she wrote on X on Wednesday.
Pakistan last year reported a total of 74 polio cases, a sharp rise from only six cases it reported in 2023. The South Asian country has so far reported only three cases in the first two months of 2025, two from Sindh and one from its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
