ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced over Rs198 million in grants this year as part of its ongoing support to Pakistan’s polio eradication programme and to help the Sindh government carry out its relief programmes for flood-hit people.

A press release issued by the foundation on Friday said that the grants would fund initiatives aimed to provide assistance to polio survivors and address the urgent needs of families affected by the floods.

The amount includes a grant to the World Health Organisation to support the physical rehabilitation of more than 200 children paralysed by polio; a grant to the Sindh government to directly support more than 4,400 families in Umerkot and one other district affected by this year’s floods and a grant to Save the Children to support relief operations.

Umerkot is one of 17 locations in Sindh reporting polio this year.

The government plans to increase accountability for the polio programme at the union council level and efforts to ensure that vaccinators hired to deliver polio vaccines at the household level are of the appropriate age and gender, better trained and paid on time and directly.

Sindh experienced a significant polio outbreak following the floods and currently accounts for nearly 20 per cent of cases reported in the country.

So far, Pakistan has reported this year 161 cases of polio, more than any other country in the world.“Pakistan announced important steps recently to implement its emergency plan more effectively. If implemented well, rapid progress can be made in stopping the virus,” said Michael Galway, a senior programme officer for the foundation closely working with the Pakistan programme.

“We hope our additional support demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Pakistan as it deals with multiple challenges in managing the intense transmission of polio while simultaneously responding to acute situations such as this year’s flood in Sindh,” he said.

In August, the Gates Foundation and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) announced a partnership to bolster Pakistan’s fight against polio.

Through an innovative financing mechanism, Jica extended a loan of Rs5.63 billion to the government, which the Gates Foundation will repay if Pakistan meets polio eradication targets by 2013.

The fresh grant will augment support to WHO, Unicef and the World Bank for vaccine procurement, immunisation campaigns and communication efforts for polio.

Progress against polio in Pakistan is critical to achieve global eradication because polio anywhere means there is a risk of polio everywhere.

A recent outbreak in China proved to be genetically linked to earlier transmission in Sindh while virus circulation in Afghanistan has been linked to transmission of wild polio virus in Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.