Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to eradicate polio within Commonwealth countries, including Pakistan and Nigeria; and whether this is a priority for the discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals during the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Answered by Lord Bates
Remarkable progress has been made towards polio eradication in the last 30 years, with over 99% reduction in the number of polio cases. The UK has played a leading role in this process and UK support to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) will mean up to 45 million children can be vaccinated against polio each year until 2020. Only two Commonwealth countries, Nigeria and Pakistan, have not yet been declared polio-free. In February the UK’s support enabled GPEI to conduct a campaign to vaccinate almost 39 million children in Pakistan, and in April large-scale immunisation campaigns are planned in Nigeria. Nigeria has not seen a case of polio since 2016 and there has only been one case in Pakistan this year, meaning that these two countries are on track to eradicating polio. Health and communicable diseases will be a key focus of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a forum which acknowledges polio as a global health priority.