High-powered Global Body Demands Restoration of PM's Polio Cell

This news piece explores the importance of high-level advocacy and commitment in Pakistan, one of three remaining polio-endemic countries, in contributing to the global eradication of polio. It reports that, in a major development that unfolded on June 1 2013, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) demanded restoration of the Pakistani Prime Minister (PM)'s Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell, thereby putting immense pressure on the upcoming elected government to reverse the caretaker setup's controversial decision of dissolving the entity altogether. (A summary of this report is available in the Related Summaries section, below)

The IMB's latest report urges the new government to own the momentum that the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme achieved during the last two years: "Key to success will be the absolute and total engagement of district leaders, and a refusal to settle for the levels of access that the programme is currently achieving." It further adds that, while the previous government hands a strong programme onto the next, because of events in December 2012 (when several polio workers were murdered) and since, this is not a programme that can yet stop polio for good. "Those coming into power would do well to retain the organisational structure that has proved so successful. The next six months are absolutely vital. No time can be lost in re-establishing momentum after the electoral period," the report points out.

The report speaks highly of the National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) for Polio Eradication: "District commissioners led the charge, many of them developing expertise in polio eradication as they took on direct responsibility for the work in their district." According to the IMB report, the composition of vaccinator teams has also improved. "There was a substantially heightened sense of accountability, and a tangible and energetic will to expel polio from Pakistan."