ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia reaffirmed on Monday its $500 million pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) by signing an agreement during the fourth Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum.

These funds were initially pledged in April last at the first-ever World Economic Forum Special meeting held in Riyadh. The signing of the agreement will help the GPEI and its partners to reach 370 million children with polio vaccines each year and stop transmission of the virus for good, a press release of GPEI said.

Dr Abdullah al Rabeeah, Supervisor-General of King Salman Relief and Humanitarian Centre, attended the signing ceremony which was joined by Director-General of World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Unicef Executive Director, Catherine Russell; Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr Sania Nishtar; President of Global Development at the Gates Foundation and Chair of the Polio Oversight Board, Dr Chris Elias; and Pakistan Polio Plus Chair, Rotary International, Aziz Memon.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Abdullah al Rabeeah said that the world is on the path to eradicating polio once and for all, and Saudi Arabia is proud to be part of this global initiative. The Saudi contribution will go towards protecting the most vulnerable children of today so that the generations of tomorrow can live free from this preventable disease, he said.

Poliovirus detected in environmental samples taken from Islamabad

As a result of decades of leadership from GPEI partners, generous support from donors and the commitment of affected countries, polio cases have fallen by over 99 per cent since the GPEI was founded in 1988. More than 20 million people are walking today who would otherwise have been paralysed by the virus.

But humanitarian crises from parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan to Somalia and Yemen have allowed the virus to continue paralysing the world’s most vulnerable children. In 2024, the virus returned to Gaza in the occupied Palestinian territory after 25 years to paralyse a child, a cruel reminder that as long as polio exists anywhere, children everywhere will remain at risk.

“We have come so far in our shared mission to consign polio to history, but the last mile is the hardest,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Finishing the job requires unwavering determination, and this generous contribution from Saudi Arabia will help us reach children in conflict-affected and other difficult-to-reach areas as we work together to realise the vision of a polio-free world,” he said.

Poliovirus found in Islamabad

In a related development, samples collected from only four, out of 15 districts, were found negative for wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1). Federal capital’s one, out of five sites, was found positive.

The districts found negative include Shaheed Benazirabad, Khyber, Peshawar and Multan.

The districts found positive for wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) inc­lude Pishin, Chaman, Quetta, Islam­abad, Ghotki, Hyderabad, Kambar, Karachi, Larkana, and Sukkur.

According to an official of the lab, environmental (sewage) samples were collected from 15 districts and these were tested at the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Islamabad has five environmental sample collection sites of which one (Jhangi Sayedan) tested positive in January while other four (Kirpa, NIH Colony, Sabzi Mandi and Sewerage Plant I-9) were found negative. However, for February one site (Sabzi Mandi) has been tested positive, he said.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2025