A WHO-supported vaccination centre opened at the National Institute of Child Health in Karachi to serve an estimated 2.5 million people in District South, expanding access to routine immunization and maternal tetanus-diphtheria protection.
The model EPI centre, funded through Gavi and supported by WHO, was inaugurated by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho alongside WHO Representative in Pakistan Dr Luo Dapeng, with Senator Rubina Khalid in attendance. The facility will offer free routine vaccines that protect children against 13 vaccine-preventable diseases and provide tetanus-diphtheria doses for pregnant women.
Designed to improve service quality, the new vaccination centre includes child vaccination areas, a comfortable waiting area for parents and caregivers, water and sanitation facilities, appropriate furniture and cold-chain equipment to maintain vaccine safety. Information materials are displayed to guide families on vaccine schedules and requirements.
As the largest public-sector children’s hospital in Karachi, NICH is expected to see hundreds of children daily at the centre. WHO’s ongoing support helps Sindh’s EPI vaccinate about 1.5 million children each year, including roughly 0.7 million in Karachi, while Pakistan’s national EPI reaches around 7 million children and 5.5 million women of childbearing age annually.
Sindh’s routine immunization coverage reached 80 percent in 2025, with first-dose pentavalent coverage above 93 percent and BCG coverage above 90 percent. Officials say the new vaccination centre will help reduce the number of children who miss routine doses and support polio eradication efforts by providing routine immunization alongside supplementary campaigns.
Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho highlighted the provincial focus on improving EPI centres so parents have a positive experience when bringing children for vaccination, while Dr Luo Dapeng underscored WHO’s commitment to work with Sindh on service delivery, vaccinator training and digital data collection through the child immunization registry so no child or mother is left behind.
This Karachi facility follows the model immunization site opened at Services Hospital in Lahore in December 2024, with a further model centre due to open soon in Quetta, Balochistan. The centre at NICH is open to all families in the area and will operate as a fixed vaccination site and referral point for walk-in and referred children across the city.
