By IRNA
Islamabad : Director General of World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan has said the organization has decided to focus on Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria for complete eradication of polio.
Addressing a news conference, along with Health Minister Naseer Ahmed Khan, in Islamabad on Tuesday, she said that WHO has spent five billion dollars on worldwide campaign against polio and would provide all possible assistance to Pakistan in realization of the goal.
The WHO director-general said Pakistan has made tremendous progress in health sector over the last eight years.
Emphasizing that polio vaccination is completely safe, she called for mobilizing religious and other community leaders to enlist support for immunization.
Dr Naseer Ahmed Khan said the government has made additional allocations of 1.3 billion rupees for eradication of polio.
He further announced that only seven cases of polio have been reported in the country so far.
He said apart from WHO and NGOs, the government is also contacting Microsoft chief Bill Gate to seek assistance in drive against polio.
He added that the health budget has increased from 3.4 billion to 11.8 billion rupees in the past seven years.
In addition, he added, 2.7 billion rupees have been earmarked for program on blindness, 2.5 billion for hepatitis control and 20 billion rupees for child and mother care.