Prime Minister's Telephone Call With Mr. Bill Gates.

Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif spoke on the telephone today with Mr Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). They discussed the ongoing public health and social sector programmes supported by BMGF in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister appreciated the valuable support extended by the BMGF to Pakistan in polio eradication and improving immunisation, nutrition and financial inclusion in the country. He also reaffirmed Pakistan's desire to further strengthen the fruitful partnership with the Foundation in all the ongoing areas of cooperation.

The Prime Minister expressed grave concern on the recent increase in the number of confirmed cases of poliovirus in Pakistan in 2022 and stressed that his Government remained committed to ending all forms of polio in the country. While noting that all cases of poliovirus confirmed so far this year belonged to the southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Prime Minister highlighted that his Government was actively implementing the special emergency response plan for south KP to scale up and improve the quality of the polio...