Due to his efforts in both the national and international campaigns to eradicate polio, Dr. Shahzad Baig, the national coordinator of Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Programme, was recognized on Time magazine’s esteemed list of “TIME100 Health.”
According to TIME, TIME100 Health is a group of leaders from various industries, including scientists, physicians, campaigners, educators, and policymakers, who are committed to bringing about real, sustainable change for a healthy public.
In his story, Jeffrey Kluger, Editor at Large for Time magazine, emphasized the significance of Dr. Baig by pointing out a noteworthy decrease in polio infections since he took over as leader.
The magazine stated that “Dr Baig remained undeterred in his mission” in spite of obstacles like radical threats against polio workers.
According to Baig, the days of radicals evicting polio workers are passed.
Dr. Baig was a key technical advisor to Nigeria’s successful polio eradication effort prior to being assigned to oversee Pakistan’s polio eradication program.
Under Dr. Baig’s direction, Nigeria “succeeded spectacularly” in becoming polio-free in 2020, the editor of TIME continued.
According to time, Pakistan will be the next country to eradicate the crippling illness.
Kluger declared, “Pakistan will be the next if Baig gets his way.”
According to the feature article, case numbers have drastically decreased since Baig took over in 2021, with just six children affected in 2023.
“By 2026, we want that number to be zero,” the editor continued.
Kluger claims that the government, under Baig’s direction, has sent out 400,000 vaccinators and 80,000 security guards to immunize nearly 90 million youngsters so far this year, and another 24 million will be vaccinated in the spring.
The TIME 100 HEALTH list’s inclusion of Dr. Baig was applauded by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme.
The organization expressed its congratulations on Instagram, saying, “His [Dr. Baig] inclusion in this esteemed list is a testament to his dedication to the mission of eradicating polio from Pakistan!”
The twin towns of Rawalpindi and Islamabad formally launched a week-long anti-polio campaign on April 29.
To ensure the campaign’s success, unique counters have been erected at all hospitals, both large and small, as well as at private clinics, dispensaries, bus stops, train stations, and airports.
One day later, at the recently erected Gulshan Akakhel in Gadap, children received polio drops as part of the week-long anti-polio campaign led by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
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