Ms. Ayesha Raza Farooq, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, spoke as a keynote presenter at the 72nd WHO EMRO Regional Committee meeting in Cairo, outlining Pakistan’s long-term campaign to end polio. She highlighted the scale of the national effort and the central role of communities and health workers in reaching every child.
Pakistan’s polio programme now depends on more than 400,000 frontline health workers who go door to door across the country, delivering life-saving drops to an estimated 45 million children under five. About 60 percent of these frontline staff are women, a fact Ms. Farooq said is critical to accessing households and building public trust in vaccination campaigns.
She emphasised that the drive to end polio is strengthening Pakistan’s wider health infrastructure by improving disease surveillance, expanding routine immunisation coverage, and bringing nutrition and hygiene services to underserved communities. The focus on system-wide gains reflects a strategy where polio eradication delivers broader public health benefits.
“Our story is defined by resilience and determination to end the threat of paralyzing poliovirus, not only for Pakistan, but for every child and the generations to come,” Ms. Farooq said, reiterating the government’s commitment to finish the job despite remaining challenges.
Ms. Farooq acknowledged the ongoing obstacles but underscored steady progress and the importance of sustained collaboration. She thanked regional and global partners including WHO and UNICEF, and countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt for their continued support and solidarity in this collective mission to secure a polio-free future.
The message delivered in Cairo was both an update and a call to action: Pakistan will continue to prioritise polio eradication as a national public health objective, maintaining momentum through community engagement, strong surveillance, and coordinated international partnerships.
