The humanitarian and development initiatives launched by the UAE leadership have helped humanity across the globe and made a positive difference in the lives of millions of people, especially children, an editorial in a local English language daily has said.

The UAE is an important partner and long-term contributor of the polio eradication programme, having supported the delivery of vaccines to protect the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach children in Pakistan, director of the polio eradication programme at the Gates Foundation, has said.

The United Arab Emirates is making significant efforts and contributions to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with the country's national immunisation campaign providing a model to be copied for eradicating the highly infectious childhood disease which was once prevalent throughout the world.

Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme Director, said that the programme succeeded in reducing the number of polio cases in Pakistan from 306 cases in 2014 to four cases in October 2018, a decrease of 98 percent.

As the world marks World Polio Day tomorrow, the Ambassador of Pakistan to the UAE, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, has commended the UAE's global efforts and financial contributions towards eradicating the polio virus and saving millions of children in Pakistan and other nations.

On World Polio Day, which is marked on 24th October, Dr. Nima Saeed Abid, Head of World Health Organisation Office in Pakistan, has thanked the UAE for their contribution to Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate polio.

The UAE-Pakistan Assistance Programme, UAE-PAP, has successfully administered 346,803,020 million doses of polio vaccines to more than 57 million Pakistani children between 2014 and the end of September 2018.

400 million children have benefitted from the UAE anti-polio campaigns, while the total value of its donations accounts for around US$167 million, as the world celebrates World Polio Day on Wednesday, 24th October.

The United Arab Emirates and Pakistan have issued the following joint statement: "The United Arab Emirates welcomed Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the accompanying high level delegation,