Over the past five decades, Pakistan has made remarkable progress in public health through its Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), launched in 1978 in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and global partners. Since its inception, the programme has protected more than 160 million children and 130 million mothers with life-saving vaccines, contributing to the prevention of an estimated 2.6 million child deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. Health authorities highlight that Pakistan’s immunization efforts have played a critical role in reducing child mortality and improving overall population health.
Pakistan’s achievements include major milestones in disease control, such as a 99.8% reduction in paralytic polio cases since 1994 and WHO validation of maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination across most provinces, covering around 80% of the population. The country’s immunization programme is considered one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, averting a significant share of childhood mortality and preventing widespread illness, disability, and hospitalizations.
Each year, WHO supports Pakistan in immunizing over 7 million children and 5.5 million women against 13 vaccine-preventable diseases, alongside large-scale polio vaccination campaigns reaching tens of millions of children. This effort is supported by one of the world’s largest health workforces, including thousands of trained vaccinators and hundreds of thousands of frontline workers engaged in routine immunization and polio eradication drives.
Health officials emphasize that these achievements are the result of long-term collaboration between the government, international partners, healthcare workers, and communities. Vaccination efforts have not only saved lives but also reduced healthcare costs, prevented millions of disease cases, and improved quality of life, with WHO noting that each life saved through vaccination translates into decades of healthy living.
As Pakistan prepares for World Immunization Week, WHO has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the country’s immunization systems and highlighted the importance of trust in scientific evidence. Health leaders stress that vaccines remain one of the most reliable and effective tools for protecting children and mothers, ensuring healthier generations and strengthening the country’s public health system for the future.
