{"id":46805,"date":"2024-01-12T01:35:03","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T01:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/senator-sania-nishtar-to-head-vaccine-alliance-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-12T01:35:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T01:35:03","slug":"senator-sania-nishtar-to-head-vaccine-alliance-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/senator-sania-nishtar-to-head-vaccine-alliance-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Sania Nishtar to head vaccine alliance | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nGENEVA:
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Senator Sania Nishtar, a medical doctor, will soon take the reins of the Gavi vaccine alliance, the first woman to lead it, the organisation said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Nishtar, a former health minister, will take over as Gavi’s new chief executive officer on March 18, it said.<\/p>\n

The 60-year-old politician will replace David Marlow, who has been serving as interim CEO since long-time leader Seth Berkley left last August.<\/p>\n

Gavi had announced last February that Mohammad Ali Pate, a Nigerian doctor and Harvard professor, would replace Berkley.<\/p>\n

But just six weeks before he was expected to start, he decided to back out, informing Gavi that he had instead decided to “return and contribute to his home country”.<\/p>\n

Nishtar has had a range of roles within the Pakistani government, NGOs and the United Nations, during her 30-year career.<\/p>\n

She “has built a reputation as a tireless advocate for health equity”, Jose Manuel Barroso, chair of the Gavi board, said in the statement.<\/p>\n

He hailed her as “an innovative thinker and a proven doer when it comes to solving complex challenges”.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0US sends vaccine trucks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gavi is a non-profit created in 2000 to provide an array of vaccines to developing countries.<\/p>\n

“Health starts with life-saving vaccines,” Nishtar said in the statement.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging Gavi’s contribution to the field over the past 23 years, she added: “The task ahead is enormous.”<\/p>\n

Gavi says that since its inception, it has helped immunise more than a billion children, and has helped to halve child mortality in 78 lower-income countries.<\/p>\n

That work, it says, “prevented more than 17.3 million future deaths”.<\/p>\n

It co-led the Covax initiative, alongside the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.<\/p>\n

The global scheme to ensure Covid vaccines reached people in poorer countries closed down last month after delivering nearly two billion doses to 146 territories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n