Dr Shahzad Baig lands on Time’s 100 influential people in health for polio eradication efforts

Dr Shahzad Baig, the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, has been included in Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People in Health’ list for his efforts for polio eradication in the country, it emerged on Saturday.

The list honours 100 individuals who are the “most influential in the world of health right now” and includes scientists, doctors, advocates, educators, and policy-makers, among others, who were “dedicated to creating tangible, credible change for a healthier population”.

The magazine said Dr Baig was selected for being on the frontlines of the effort to eradicate polio in Pakistan.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five years.

It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.

“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.”

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.

Dr Baig said he was proud of his inclusion and dedicated it to polio workers who worked in difficult conditions to rid the country of the disease.

Meanwhile, the Polio Eradication programme said his inclusion in the “esteemed list is a testament to his dedication to the mission of Polio eradication from Pakistan!”