WHO Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy concludes her first visit to Pakistan
Islamabad, 7 May, 2024 – WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Hanan Balkhy, has concluded her inaugural visit to Pakistan. The comprehensive five-day mission spanned Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore, and included high-level meetings with government officials, visits to WHO-supported health facilities, and participation in the subnational polio vaccination campaign.
This was also Dr Balkhy’s first visit as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s high-level polio delegation, led by the Chair of the Polio Oversight Board and with representatives from the United States Centers for Disease Control, United Nations Children’s Fund and Rotary International. The high-level polio delegation met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Coordinator to the PM on National Health Services Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharat, and chief ministers, chief secretaries and health ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
The polio delegation learned about progress, challenges and the strategies employed by the programme to end polio in Pakistan, which is one of the last two countries globally with endemic transmission of wild poliovirus. The delegation emphasized the critical need to reach all children during vaccination campaigns, enhance coordination with Afghanistan’s polio programme, and intensify efforts to improve routine immunization coverage.
“While Pakistan has made significant strides in epidemiological progress, backed by a strong disease surveillance system, it is essential to further strengthen and integrate polio eradication with essential immunization programs while