20000323

Japan to provide

aid for polio

eradication

ISLAMABAD: The government of Japan has approved funds through Unicef of 636 million yen to provide polio vaccine for the polio eradication campaign in Pakistan.

In this connection, a signing ceremony and the exchange of notes will be held on Friday between Toshiyuki Iwado, Charge d'Affairs Embassy of Japan, and Stephen H Umemoto, Unicef representative for Pakistan.

Under the agreement, the government of Japan will provide finances to Unicef to purchase about 60 million doses of oral polio vaccines (OPV) and related cold chain for the two rounds of the National Immunization Days (NIDs) to be held in Pakistan in October and November this year.

This would ensure total coverage of about 26 million children of Pakistan from this dreadful disease.

The government of Japan has been consistently providing financial assistance to Pakistan in its on-going fight against polio. For the 1999 NID rounds, the Japan government had provided about 600 million yens to purchase about 60.95 million doses of OPV and related cold chain.ÑAPP