Pakistan’s newly elected prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has assured billionaire vaccine promoter Bill Gates that his country is committed to fully eradicating polio and will continue working with the Microsoft co-founder’s foundation on public-health initiatives.
Sharif spoke with Gates by telephone on Tuesday, saying that his government is determined to eradicate all forms of polio. The software magnate reiterated that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) will continue supporting Pakistan’s government to help ensure that no child is at risk of being paralyzed by polio.
The country had gone more than a year without a single new polio case – a feat that Gates hailed after traveling to Islamabad to meet with Pakistan’s then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in February – but officials this month confirmed the first new infection in 15 months after a boy was paralyzed by the virus in North Waziristan district.
Sharif and Gates discussed such topics as working to improve vaccination rates in Pakistan and providing poor people with better nutrition and “financial inclusion services.” They also discussed the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, and the PM called for resuming inoculations against polio in neighboring Afghanistan.
Donald Trump is eyeing plans to push the NATO members to ramp up defense spending…
Former US President Donald Trump paid the $9,000 fine for violating a gag order imposed…
Russian forces are steadily advancing in the Ukraine conflict, the US Director of National Intelligence,…
An out-of-control ice cream truck rolled down a slope and crashed into a group of…
He was a staunch supporter of the anti-Bolshevik White Movement during the Russian Civil War…
Ukraine needs to defeat Russia on the battlefield in order to be admitted to NATO,…