By John Ikani
American business magnate, Bill Gates on Monday announced his readiness to meet with the Taliban for the purpose of eradicating poliomyelitis in Afghanistan.
“Honestly, I don’t know if there’s some sensitivity around that. I would do pretty much anything to help the polio campaign,” he told the UK Telegraph. “It’s the [Bill and Melinda Gates] Foundation’s top priority.”
The co-founder of Microsoft revealed that the partners of the foundation had had a meeting with the Taliban in Qatar.
Gates expressed his delight over the retention of the former health minister by the movement, whom he referred to as “quite capable.”
He however lamented that world leaders are not taking the threat of the disease seriously.
“The world is quite distracted, and there isn’t as much energy going into pandemic preparedness as I would expect,” said Mr Gates.
It worthwhile to note that Poliomyelitis is an highly infectious vital disease that hits the nervous system and can cause complete paralysis within hours.
The World Health Organization says the disease is endemic in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
