New York Times: In Pakistan, a Final Push to Wipe Out Polio
Bina Shah, author

“…[T]he Taliban’s efforts to fight the [polio eradication] campaign continue, as do management problems within the national immunization campaign. … One effort to resolve that problem was the introduction in Punjab last year of a smartphone app on which the region’s 3,700 vaccinators could keep track of their work. Now, instead of going household to household, they go to a center where children have been assembled for vaccination. The vaccinators then send the data via phone to a central office. Using this approach, vaccinators’ attendance rates, which at times had been as low as 21 percent, have risen to 95 percent to 100 percent. … The Punjab government is eager to share its technological know-how with the rest of the nation. One target area this year is remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. And if Sindh and Baluchistan follow suit, there’s every chance that Pakistan can catch up quickly to the rest of the world. A polio-free Pakistan — and globe — may be coming sooner than you think” (1/20).