Gunmen fatally shot a police officer assigned to protect polio workers in Pakistan’s northwest (2)

4 June, 2024

Neil, thank you for sharing.

You reported the news, 'Today I learned of another killing in Pakistan:

= PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen fatally shot a police officer assigned to protect polio workers in Pakistan’s northwest, an official said Monday. At least 11 police have died this year while on security duty for vaccination campaigns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The gunmen fired at a team working in the Wargari area of Lakki Marwat district, said police official Sajid Khan. One of the attackers also died, while the remaining assailants fled. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault."

Yet another very tragic and unconscionable waste of lives of health workers just doing their work to save humanity, when we thought such criminality had stopped.

We pray that just as Nigeria which used to suffer similar mindless waste of health workers lives, Pakistan may find the way out without delay. To achieve the success, Nigeria engaged stakeholders from all sections of the population, traditional rulers, religious leaders, opinion leaders, academics, youths, women groups, market women, politicians, professionals, business community, artisans, and so on.

It took years, was not easy but eventually it worked especially the country was declared Polio Free.

Today it leaves Pakistan and Afghanistan, we urge the Governments of these countries to follow Nigeria's example if they are to change minds and educate their population that Immunisation Does More Good (prevents illness) than Bad (side effects) for All, including children and women.

May the souls of the departed colleagues Rest In Peace. Amen.

Joseph Ana

Prof Joseph Ana

Lead Senior Fellow/ medical consultant.

Center for Clinical Governance Research &

Patient Safety (ACCGR&PS) @ HRI GLOBAL

P: +234 (0) 8063600642

E: info@hri-global.org

8 Amaku Street, State Housing, Calabar, Nigeria.

www.hri-global.org

HIFA Profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety (CCGR&PS) with Headquarters in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is the Country Coordinator for PACK Nigeria (Practical Approach to Care Kit) which is specifically designed to improve clinical competence (improving accuracy of diagnosis and treatment) in primary health care. He is also a Member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health (2004-2008), Joseph Ana led the introduction of the evidence based, homegrown quality tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme (12-PCGP) in Nigeria, which also suitable for lower-, low-, and middle income countries (LLMIC) with similar weak health sector and system. To ensure sustainability of 12-PCGP, the ‘Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health’ was established in Cross River State Ministry of Health in 2007. His main interest is in ‘Whole health sector and system strengthening in LLMICs’. He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, including the TOOLS manual for its Implementation, currently in its 2nd Edition. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Association’s ‘Award of Excellence’ on three consecutive occasions for the innovation of 12-PCGP in Nigeria. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance subcommittee of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He was Member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee (NTISC) of the Federal Ministry of Health, 2017-2022. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the Charity, NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum UK) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group; the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers, and the Working Group on HIFA-WHO Collaboration (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). Email: info AT hri-global.org and jneana AT yahoo.co.uk