KARACHI: The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has named Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister’s focal person on polio, as the country’s first “Gender Champion” for promoting gender equality and women empowerment in public health, Pakistan’s national polio program said on Wednesday. 

The GPEI’s Gender Equality Strategy, launched in 2019, aims to address gender-related barriers to immunization, ensure women’s representation at all levels and advance gender equality as a cornerstone of health equity.

Farooq has led efforts to eradicate poliovirus in Pakistan, with the country reporting 30 cases of the disease this year, mostly from its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Pakistan is one of the only two nations where the disease remains endemic. 

“For me, the fight against polio is not only about protecting children’s health, it’s about equity, opportunity and empowerment,” Farooq was quoted as saying by the national polio program in a statement. 

“Every day, I see how women are the true drivers of this mission: leading vaccination teams, breaking barriers in their communities and carrying the hope of a healthier future,” she added. 

The statement said Farooq’s appointment highlighted her efforts to integrate women into Pakistan’s polio eradication program, enhancing their leadership roles and visibility among the 400,000 frontline health workers. It said 60 percent of these health workers are women.

“Ms. Farooq’s role as Pakistan’s first Gender Champion reflects both the nation’s leadership in the global fight to eradicate polio and its deep commitment to a more equitable and inclusive future for every child,” the polio program said. 

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. Pakistan has made remarkable progress since the 1990s, when annual polio cases exceeded 20,000, bringing them down to just eight by 2018. 

However, the country recorded an alarming 74 cases in 2024, a sharp increase from six in 2023 and only one in 2021.

Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on anti-polio workers by militant groups. 

In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted and killed in attacks.