Japan provides $2.6M to UNICEF to aid Pakistan's polio eradication program

"The Government of Japan has extended a grant of 226 million Japanese Yen (approximately US$2.62 million) to Pakistan through UNICEF for supporting the polio eradication program in Pakistan," Agence France-Presse/Dawn.com reports. "About $2 million out of the total grant will cover the procurement of approximately 13 million doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV), and the rest will meet the cost of social mobilization activities, says a statement issued by the Japanese Embassy in Islamabad on Monday," the news agency writes. "Since 1996, Japan has provided grant assistance for polio eradication every year through UNICEF and these efforts have accumulated to approximately $91 million after including [Monday's] signing," AFP/Dawn.com adds, noting, "In addition to that, in 2011, Japan renewed its commitment to this endeavor by providing a soft loan of approximately $65 million in order to make Pakistan a 'polio-free' country" (3/11).