ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities working to eradicate polio expressed cautious optimism this week, telling donors that the country was on the path to recovery after recording alarmingly high case numbers last year, thanks to closer coordination with provinces and international partners.
Polio is a crippling disease with no cure, and multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine, along with timely completion of routine immunization for children under five, are essential to building protection against the virus.
Pakistan reported 74 polio cases in 2024. So far, six children have been diagnosed with the virus in the first three months of this year. The government has planned several nationwide immunization campaigns in 2025 to address immunity gaps.
“We are on road to recovery but not yet there,” Muhammad Anwarul Haq, a senior official at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), said during the briefing, according to a social media post by the center on Thursday.
“Working closely with provinces and partners, we will optimize gains from national campaigns scheduled in April and May besides improving essential immunization coverage in key pockets of concern,” he added.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, Ayesha Raza Farooq, thanked donors for their sustained commitment to a polio-free world and acknowledged both the program’s progress and the hurdles that remain.
She urged continued efforts to close remaining immunity gaps swiftly to interrupt transmission in 2025.
Pakistan’s polio eradication program was launched in 1994, but progress has been hampered by persistent vaccine misinformation and resistance from conservative clerics who claim immunization is a foreign conspiracy. Militant violence has also targeted polio workers in parts of the country.
The donor briefing was attended by representatives of several international entities, including UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Gates Foundation and Islamic Development Bank.
Pakistan on path to recovery in polio fight after last year’s surge, officials tell donors
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Pakistan on path to recovery in polio fight after last year’s surge, officials tell donors
- Pakistan reported 74 polio cases in 2024, with six children diagnosed with the virus so far this year
- Pakistani officials say they are closely working with provinces and partners to eradicate the disease
Government hails joining Gaza peace board as ‘diplomatic success’ amid opposition criticism
- Ahsan Iqbal says Pakistan took the decision after consulting other Muslim nations
- Opposition objects to joining Trump-chaired forum without parliamentary consensus
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday described its decision to join a newly formed international body aimed at supporting peace efforts in Gaza as a “diplomatic success,” dismissing opposition criticism that the move was taken without parliamentary consensus.
The Gaza Board of Peace brings together participating states and international stakeholders seeking to support dialogue, stability and peace-related initiatives linked to the conflict in the Palestinian enclave.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the forum’s charter a day earlier on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
Opposition lawmakers objected to the decision in parliament, saying the government joined the initiative without taking them into confidence or disclosing its terms.
“If Pakistan had not gone to the Board of Peace today, these honorable members would have been making the same forceful speeches that Pakistan has been isolated, that no one is engaging with Pakistan and asking why Pakistan was not included in such a major peace initiative,” Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said in a parliamentary address.
“If Pakistan has been given center stage today, enabling us to contribute to peace in Palestine and Gaza alongside our brotherly Islamic countries, then this is a major diplomatic success for Pakistan, one that we should welcome rather than standing aside,” he added.
Iqbal said Islamabad had taken the decision after consulting other Muslim nations and described the forum as part of an international initiative aimed at ending bloodshed in Gaza.
He added that the initiative had been welcomed by Palestinians, even as Pakistan’s decision to pursue it with other nations faced criticism at home.
Representatives of 19 countries signed the charter on Thursday alongside US President Donald Trump, who addressed the gathering but offered few details about the body’s mandate, how it would operate or how it might pursue conflict resolution efforts.
Pakistan and seven other Muslim countries said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they had accepted Trump’s invitation to join the board, expressing hope that it could contribute to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Chaired by Trump, the board is expected to include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Israel announced on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would also be a member of the board.
