Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the Philanthropic billionaire Bill Gates to consider providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan, who desperately needed financial assistance since the Taliban seized power in August.
Khan spoke with the gate, chairman with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), on Tuesday, to discuss efforts to eradicate polio and foundation support for increased nutrition and financial services in Pakistan, according to a statement issued by the statement.
Prime Minister’s office.
“The prime minister highlighted that more than half the population in Afghanistan lived below the poverty line and in financial assistance needs.
He asked Mr.
Gates to consider providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghans,” according to the statement.
Both expressed concerns about the health system in Afghanistan, the only other country in the world which was endemic with Pakistan, he said.
They discussed the importance of the Polio campaign that continued in Afghanistan to stop the disease and protect the recent increase towards the final polio.
Prime Minister Khan also renewed the gate of Pakistani’s progress on eradicating polio and appreciated the priceless assistance provided by BMGF against it.
Khan said that this country has reported only one wild case of Poliovirus (WPV) this year and a positive WPV environmental sample has decreased substantially.
Khan stressed that while progress was positive, the work was still ongoing and that his government was committed to ending all forms of polio in this country.
Efforts to eradicate disabled diseases have been very hampered by deadly targeting against the vaccination team in recent years by militants, who opposed the drive, claiming that polio decreases cause infertility.
Gates promised advanced support for the foundation to the Polio State program to ensure that no child in Pakistan is at risk of paralysis due to polyovirus.