NEW YORK, May 05 (APP): Dr. Shahzad Baig, the National Coordinator of Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Programme, has been featured among Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People in Health’ list for his drive to eradicate polio eradication in the country.
Time’s annual list features pioneers, leaders and icons from around the world who have made an impact.
In Dr. Baig’s profile, Jeffrey Kluger, Editor-at-Large of Time magazine, highlighted that under his leadership there has been a remarkable decline in polio cases since 2021 when he assumed this post.
“The goal is to bring that number to zero by 2026,” .
“In 2019, polio disabled or killed 147 people in Pakistan; since Baig assumed the position, in 2021, case counts have plummeted, with only six children stricken in 2023.
“The goal is to bring that number to zero by 2026, ” he wrote.
The magazine said that targeted attacks on polio workers from 2012-2016 had killed 200 personnel but Dr Baig had “declared that the days of extremists driving out polio workers are over”.
Time noted under his leadership, the government deployed 400,000 vaccinators and 80,000 security personnel to inoculate more than 90 million children in 2024, with another 24m to come in a springtime vaccination drive.
“Before going to work in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which succeeded spectacularly: in 2020, the country became the most recent one in the world to be declared polio-free.
“If Baig has his way, Pakistan will be the next,” the magazine predicted.
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