Aseefa to pick up where BB left off: Zardari

[Naveed Yaseen]

* President says campaign aims to make country polio-free
* Child health responsibility of the entire nation

ISLAMABAD: Aseefa Bhutto Zardari will continue Benazir Bhutto’s mission to completely eradicate polio from Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday.

Talking at a ceremony at the Presidency he proclaimed Aseefa an ambassador of the national polio eradication campaign and called upon the provincial and district leaderships to play a strong role in carrying the campaign forward. The president said Benazir Bhutto had been the one to launch the Polio Eradication Initiative. "It was a demonstration of her commitment to improving the social sector, particularly the health of children. She was the first prime minister to have personally administered polio drops to a Pakistani child. That child was our own daughter, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari," he said. "Together she (Aseefa) will work with you to end polio, to honour her mother and her memory," he said, adding that Pakistan had come a long way from 1994, when the polio eradication campaign was formally launched. "Polio continues to threaten our children. Unfortunately Pakistan is among the half dozen countries in the world that are still not completely polio-free," he said.

Free of polio: "Our aim is to make Pakistan completely polio-free. We aim that no child lives in the fear of being crippled for life. For this we also need to produce polio vaccines within the country," he said. The president said that during his last visit to China, the two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in manufacture of vaccines. Zardari hoped this cooperation would also be extended to manufacture of polio vaccines in Pakistan.

Responsibility: He said child health was the collective responsibility of the whole country, adding that he was pleased to learn that sectors other than health were also playing a positive role in this endeavor. "We need this spirit of partnership in the country at this critical time," he said. Aseefa’s message was read out on the occasion that said, "I was the first ever Pakistani child to have been administered polio drops by my mother Benazir Bhutto as the prime minister of Pakistan, when the anti-polio campaign was formally launched under her watch." "I wish I could personally participate in the launching of anti polio campaign today. Although I could not personally be present due to my studies I wish to assure you that I will be with you in this noble task," she said. app

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_17