Grant Aid to UNICEF for the Pakistan Project to Eradicate Poliomyelitis

December 14, 2002

The Government of Japan has decided to extend grant aid of up to 1,181 million yen to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to implement the Project to Eradicate Poliomyelitis drawn up by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Notes to this effect were exchanged in Islamabad on December 14 (Sat) between Mr. Minoru Shibuya, Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan, and Ms. Carroll Long, Representative UNICEF Pakistan.
The Government of Pakistan, in cooperation with UNICEF, has been conducting National Immunization Days (NID) annually since 1994, and has been addressing the eradication of poliomyelitis. As a result, the number of polio cases has decreased year by year from 1,803 in 1993 to 116 in 2001, but the number still remains high compared with the global standard. UNICEF has, therefore, instructed Pakistan to intensify the NID, placing importance on more proactive measures to realize the early eradication of polio in the country. However, the worsening economic conditions in Pakistan have made it difficult for the nation by itself to procure the large amount of vaccine needed for NID.
Under such conditions, the Government of Pakistan and UNICEF have formulated the Project to Eradicate Poliomyelitis, and requested grant aid from the Japanese Government to procure the poliomyelitis vaccine necessary to implement this Project.
The Project will provide enough poliomyelitis vaccine to protect about 30 million children under five years old throughout Pakistan.

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