Pak-US collaboration in priority areas is imperative to improve health sector, health ministe
Islamabad: Caretaker federal health minister Dr. Nadeem Jan has said that Pakistan-US collaboration in priority areas is imperative to improve the health sector.
He made these remarks while talking to delegation from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Atlant led by Dr. Richard Franka, representative of Global Immunization Division which called on him to discuss mutual areas of interest for cooperation in health sector.
The delegation also included Acting Country Director of CDC in Pakistan, Dr. Jude Tuma as well as Ms. Suzzane Powel from the US Embassy.
Dr. Nadeem Jan thanked US CDC for longstanding collaboration and technical assistance provided to the country for immunization, polio eradication, capacity building of public health workforce as well strengthening of public health labs in Pakistan.
The federal minister elaborated the contributions of CDC trained field epidemiologists in disease detection and response, polio eradication as well as the recently encountered COVID-19 pandemic.
Regarding priorities of the government to protect the health of most vulnerable populations, the minister updated the delegation about initiatives being undertaken to improve essential immunization coverage across Pakistan and plan to interrupt the polio transmission the soonest possible.
‘The national leadership is committed to use all its strengths and resources to contain all vaccine preventable diseases and finally confine polio virus to the history books,” he said. “Failure in this respect is not an option and we shall ensure it through accountability across the board, he remarked.
Health minister stressed the need to adopt an integrated service delivery approach and urged the global community to extend support during the last miles toward eradication.
Richard Franka appreciated the government’s commitment as well as the unprecedented support being extended to valiant frontline health workers by Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies.
He appreciated the progress made in this regard and emphasized the need to modify strategies based on updated risk assessment. He urged that ongoing impact evaluations of interventions being implemented in priority zones.
‘The CDC truly believes in government leadership and shall remain supportive of the locally tailored strategic approaches to address challenges being faced in priority areas,” he added.
The delegation was also informed about the government’s plan to embark on Hepatitis elimination and addressing widely prevalent maternal and child malnutrition. Both sides agreed to further strengthen the existing collaborations besides carrying forward the Pak-US strategic health dialogue addressing jointly identified priority areas.
Secretary health Iftikhar Shalwani also apprised the delegation of country’s plan to host Global Health Security Summit in January 2024 and invited CDC leadership in the forthcoming event. The US delegation welcomed the initiative and assured appropriate level representation.
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