A high level delegation of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), led by the Deputy CEO, Anuradha Gupta called on Finance Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar here Friday.
Welcoming the delegation, the Finance Minister said that mother and child care was a priority agenda in the health sector for the government of Pakistan. He said the Government was committing resources to the Expanded Program on Immunization as it provided the most cost-effective protection to children and mothers against deadly and debilitating diseases. He expressed gratitude to the visiting dignitary for her organization’s continued support to strengthening Pakistan’s child immunization program. He said the Federal and Provincial Governments were geared up to boost immunization coverage with special attention to under served areas.
Anuradha Gupta informed the Minister that her organization was providing support to the tune of 835 Million US Dollars to Pakistan which was likely to be enhanced to 1 Billion US Dollars by the year 2020. She appreciated Finance Minister’s support to the immunization program which saves lives of hundreds of thousands of children every year.
She said immunization was the most cost-effective interaction and on an average one dollar invested by the country in protecting a child’s health through immunization saves sixteen dollars on a child’s treatment should the child contract the disease.
She also expressed her appreciation for the National Immunization Support Program as the true road map for taking the service to every Pakistani child.
The Finance Minister assured that his Ministry would provide all out support to the noble cause being pursued by Expanded Program on Immunization and GAVI.
Secretaries of Health & Economic Affairs as well as senior officials of Ministry of Finance were present on the occasion.
PREVIOUS NEXT
