News Page 9

July 11, World Population Day was marked today at an event in Islamabad. Speakers included Dr. Sania Nishtar, State Minister of Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza and UNFPA representatives. Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Mirza said the governmentis striving hard to make reproductive health and family planning services available to every household in the country under the broad-based approach. Dr. Nishtar said the Prime Minister has strongly hinged the entire agenda of the Ehsaas Program on women’s economic empowerment, which is critical for better population outcomes.

July 10, 2019, The President of Pakistan and Dr. Sania Nishtar were both special guests at a seminar today held by the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. The day-long event was titled ‘Poverty Alleviation in Pakistan: Learning from Success Stories’ and brought together intellectual and academic leaders from across the country.Dr. Nishtar said that knowledge and thought partnerships’ are very crucial for results-based implementation of Ehsaas framework and that there is no need to reinvent the wheel when the capacity already exists within the government and state system. Hence, Ehsaas wishes to draw on these prevailing knowledge competences, she said.

July 8, 2019, Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation in a drive towards the inclusive implementation of Ehsaas Program at the National level held a series of consultative meetings with Prime Minister AJK, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, CM KP Mehmood Khan & CM Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Hafiz Hafeez ur Rehman, Chief Secretary Sindh and Secretary Finance, Government of Balochistan. These officials were present in the capital for the first steering committee meeting of Ehsaas, Chaired by the Prime Minister, Imran Khan. The objective for these interactions was to create national harmony and building consensus in implementation of Ehsaas Program.

July 5, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan today launched the National Poverty Graduation Initiative.Part of the Ehsaas Program to help the poor uplift their living standard, this new initiativerecognisesthe urgent need to provide better opportunities for our youth, who make up the largest segment of society.Speaking at a ceremony here, the prime minister said that every ministry in the country will have a role to play. “Sixty percent of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30. This is the future and they will elevate the status of our country. They must be provided education, hospitals and opportunities,” he added.

July 5, 2019,  Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited as a chief guest at Interest Free Loan Cheque Distribution Ceremony organized by Akhuwat Foundation at a local mosque in Islamabad. This ceremony was part of the PM’s National Poverty Graduation Initiative under which 82,121 people received loans worth 3.02 billion PKR today. Overall, 391 ceremonies were held today in 76 districts across Pakistan. Under the initiative, as many as 80,000 interest free loans will be given to the deserving every month for the next 4 years. At the occasion, Dr. Amjad Saqib, CEO/Founder Akhuwat Foundation, Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO, PPAF and Shaista Sohail, Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) were also present.

July 6, 2019, Dr. Nishtar briefed the media about the National Poverty Graduation Initiative (NPGI) under the government’s flagship Poverty Alleviation Program ‘Ehsaas’. She said that the program will provide relief to the masses through interest-free loans, vocational and skills trainings, and asset transfers.Government of Pakistan has launched the poverty graduation initiative as a part of the Ehsaas strategy and aims to graduate the poorest households out of poverty to set them on a course of economic and social prosperity. Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is the leading implementing agency for NPGI. During the next four years, every month around 80,000 interest free loans will be disbursed nationwide.  The range of the interest free loans is Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 75,000. As many as 3.8 million interest free loans will be provided to 2.28 million households. In total, 14.7 million people will benefit from this component. Interest free loans are accessible through 1,110 existing loan centers operated by partnering organizations. View the full footage:

July 3, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan was given a briefing today about the planned launch of the National Poverty Graduation Initiative. Scheduled for launch on Friday, July 5th, the initiative aims to give loans and training to the poorest Pakistanis to enable them to start businesses and gain skills which will help end the cycle of poverty. The initiative will impact 16.28 million people over a four-year period.

July 2, 2019, Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, was the chief guest and keynote speaker at the ceremony, which saw a record 1,034 students graduate at the Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS) Convocation 2019. Drawing on personal experience gained throughout her illustrious career, Dr. Nishtar inspired the graduates,“You are the academic dream of this country. You are the ones who will be picked up by companies, the corporate sector and government within the next three months. It is essential you develop the attributes, which will allow you to succeed in life.”

June 2019, Dr. Nishtar stood in queue with women waiting to receive money allocated by the government under the programme to BISP card holders. She directed the staffers at the centres not to make women stand in long queues to avail the facility. She also wants better internet facilities. Dr. Nishtar sat with waiting applicants on the ground and heard their complaints and assured a swift response and resolution to their troubles. Dr. Nishtar also guided them about the process. She further added that these surprise visits help her with policy-making and she will be conducting more visits in future. She concluded that her focus is to build a strong system and to have preventive measures in place so there are no loopholes for corruption and other wrongdoings.

June 16, 2019, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Bill Gates, founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation met today to discuss pressing health and development needs in Pakistan.The Gates Foundation is a major supporter of global health and development around the world. In Pakistan, much of the foundation’s work to-date has been focused on eradicating polio, new vaccines introduction and immunization strengthening.In the meeting, Dr Sania Nishtar and Bill Gates discussed key foundation partnerships in Pakistan including the polio eradication program, routine immunization and improving access to digital financial services for the poor.

June 16, 2019, Regional security and stability were the key topics of the CICA summit in Tajikistan today, at which Dr Sania Nishtar led the Pakistani delegation. Represented at the summit were 27 member states, which cover over 90% of the Asian continent. Dr. Nishtar engaged with world leaders including Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin to discuss regional cooperation and opportunities. CICA, whose secretariat is located in Kazakhstan, seeks to strengthen contacts and ties with the UN, regional and international organizations to support its efforts to strengthen peace, security and economic development in Asia.

June 8, 2019, Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the media about the Ehsaas measures that the government plans to implement in order to facilitate differently abled people across the country. Under the Ehsasprogramme, which was launched in March this year, the government will provide SehatInsaf cards to differently-abled people who are registered with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) so that they can get free medical treatment from hospitals that are registered under the health cards, Nishtar announced. Furthermore, government hospitals have been directed to issue certificates to differently-abled people as per United Nations classifications so that free assistive devices, such as canes, wheelchairs etc., can be provided accordingly. View the full footage:

June 2, 2019, Dr. Sania Nishtar today gave a passionate explanation of the Ehsaas Program to the media. Explaining how important it is to end poverty and bring marginalised groups and regions into the mainstream, Dr. Nishtar said the program was developed on the principles of the State of Medina. She highlighted a number of policies that will be introduced under the program, including mobile phones and bank accounts for poor women and interest free loans to enable people to start their own businesses. Dr Nishtar confirmed that the amount allocated in the budget for social protection will be doubled in the next budget. View full footage:

May 28, 2019, Speaking from his office in Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan today confirmed the upcoming rollout of the Ehsaas Qarz I Hasna Scheme. Chairing a meeting to review progress on the Ehsaas Program, the Prime Minister spoke passionately about the forthcoming policy that will distribute over 80,000 loans to women and young people across the country, enabling them to start their own businesses and freeing them from the cycle of poverty. Dr. Nishtar also updated the Prime Minister on the current status of the Ehsaas Program.

May 24, 2019, Today, Dr. Sania Nishtar was the special guest of Oxfam Pakistan at the launch of its new campaign on women’s empowerment. Funded in large part by the Canadian government, the Women’s Voice and Leadership campaign aims to promote gender equality and protect human rights by supporting the capacity and activities of local and regional women’s organizations. Dr Nishtar spoke alongside Canadian High Commissioner Wendy Gilmore and Khawar Mumtaz, a renowned Pakistani academic and women’s rights activist.

May 20, 2019, To commemorate World Orphans Day 2019, Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Anjuman Faiz ul Islam, one of the country’s leading charitable organizations. Known for their work supporting orphans and young people living in poverty, Anjuman Faiz ul Islam was founded in 1943 and has helped thousands of vulnerable young children over the last seven decades. Speaking after the visit, Dr Nishtar said she was “truly moved” by the experience. She went on to say she “learnt many policy lessons” that will help guide the national roll out of the Ehsaas Program, which will include specific measures to help orphans and street children across the country.

May 14, 2019, Following her appointment as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation with the status of Federal Minister, Dr. Sania has stepped down from all her executive roles in Heartfile. She will continue to be on the board of Heartfile.

May 14, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar has been appointed as a special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan for social protection and poverty alleviation in addition to the chairing Benazir Income Support Program (BISP ) and Ehsaas program.

May 9, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar, along with Dr. Andre Goy chaired the World Economic Forum Global Future Council (GFC) on the Future of Health and Healthcare over a two year period (2016-2018). GFC comprises expert stakeholders representing the public and private healthcare sectors. For the 2016-2018 mandate, members of the GFC worked together to provide insights on how the evolution of global health and healthcare will affect us all in the decades to come, including through the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Report which was launched this week can be accessed here

April 12, 2019: The international conference on Nephology was held in Melbourne. At its opening ceremony, Dr. Sania Nishtar delivered the Brenner/Dirks lecture on global health and non-communicable diseases. She spoke about the risking burden of NCDs and the three-pronged response needed to bridge a public health gap. The text of her speech can be accessed here.

April 2-3, 2019: Third Meeting of the WHO High-Level Commission on NCDs was held in Geneva on April 2nd and 3rd. The Commission worked in three sub-groups and deliberated on the way forward for its second phase. The commission’s second report is expected to be released in October 31, 2019, which is when the Commission will sunset. Dr Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting of the Commission.

March 28, 2019: The Benazir Income Support Program and the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food systems for Nutrition co-hosed a joint high-level dialogue on food systems in Islamabad on March 28. An outcome of the event is a statement of intent in which ministers, experts and other stakeholders agreed on specific, actionable policy options within their spheres of influence to support the provision of safe, affordable, accessible and healthy diets. The statement of intent is available at glopan.org/Pakistan-nutrition-statement.The meeting was chaired by Dr. Sania Nishtar. Speakers included Tom Arnold and Prof Sandy Thomas, Director, Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition.

March 27, 2019: The largest ever poverty-eradication focused program in Pakistan, called Ehsaas (feeling for the poor) was launched on March 27. At the launch event at the convention center in Islamabad, Dr. Sania Nishtar, who has designed the program, gave an overview of the program, following which Prime Minister Imran Khan formally announced the program and outlined his commitment to its policy goals. In order to facilitate Pakistan’s transition towards a welfare state, the Government is striving to play a more effective role in eliminating disparities between the have and have-nots. This strategic framework, therefore, aims to target poverty, vulnerability, malnutrition, and deprivation so that the fundamental rights of all citizens can be ensured. Ehsaas will reach out to all those now excluded, with a special emphasis on those parts of the country where development is lagging and where poverty is higher.The launching ceremony can be watched here

January-March, 2019: Following the notification of the Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council, on January 9, 2019 by the Government of Pakistan, Dr. Sania Nishtar convened more than 23 Stakeholder consultations in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat over a two month duration to develop a plan for addressing the issue of ‘inequality’ and poor ‘human capital development’ in the country. Some details about these consultations were posed on twitter #PovertyCouncilPak

March 18, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting of the Advisory Board of the United Nations’ Institute of Global Health Advisory Committee meeting in Kuala Lumper on March 18. The institute is currently in the early stage of implementing a new strategic plan, the development of which has been shepherded by the Advisory Committee. At this meeting, the advisory committee took stock of progress and next steps.

March 4-5, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar attended a stakeholder hearing of working group 3 of the High-Level Commission on NCDs in New York on March 4-5. The meeting was convened by the World Economic Forum, and the Governments of USA and Kenya.

February 27, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired a high-level international consultation convened by the Benazir Income Support Program, which was convened to solicit input to develop a new strategy for the government of Pakistan to address the double burden of malnutrition in Pakistan. The consultation was well attended by national and international experts.

February 1, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar attended the Prime Prince Mahidol Award Conference and joined the plenary panel on “The Political Economy of the Determinants of NCDs”. The plenary session was intended to set the stage for several parallel sessions that followed that day. The purpose was to discuss thestrategies for tackling major NCD risk factors (unhealthy diets, tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity and environmental pollution) and the underlying determinants, focusing on the implementation of the cost-effective interventions to achieve SDG3.4 and other NCD-related targets; to share and learn from national, regional and global experiences in addressing the main risk factors of NCDs and their social, economic, commercial and political determinants and to discuss how to translate these experiences to other contexts; and to identify knowledge gaps and strategies to address them.

January 23, 2019: At the 2019 Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Dr Sania Nishtar joined a plenary panel alongwith Bill Gates, Tedros Adanhom, DG WHO, the Chair of GAVI’s board and Executive Director of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria to discuss financial innovation in global health. The panel discussion can be accessed here

January 9, 2019: Dr. Sania Nishtar has been appointed as the Chair of the Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The Council has a wide-ranging mandate, ranging from coordination of the fragmented social safety net arrangements in the country and planning to catalyzing research and policy support to various entities.

Dec 2018,  After a month in office as Chairperson BISP, Dr. Sania Nishtar has issued a statement about her priorities, which emphasize the importance of reform, building institutional systems for integrity, effectiveness and transparency and the move towards digital precision safety nets. The statement can be  accessed here.

November 28, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar delivered a Keynote Speech at the Third Raffles Dialogue in Singaporeon the Future of Human Well-Being and Security. She outlined the nature of global challenges and prospects for quantum change. She paid rich tribute to Singapore: “a country on top of the world’s human capital rankings, with the lowermost child mortality, a country that has eradiated extreme poverty and made massive strides to counter NCDs, the global leader in the disability transition and champion of the whole of government approach”. She said that in order to address global challenges “what we need to change are institutional behaviours—and to change behaviours we must change is the design of institutions and the incentive structures”. She further added“I believe you [Singapore] are well positioned to facilitate development of new rules of the game, and more broadly respect for international rules and the multilateral system”. The text of her speech can be accessed here

November 26, 2018: Delivering the keynote speech at the ministerial conference on diabetes in her capacity as Co-Chair of WHO High-level Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr. Sania Nishtar termed diabetes as “the biggest epidemic of the 21st century”. The meeting was hosted by the government of Singapore. The keynote speech session was attended by the Deputy Prime MinisterShanmugaratnam, Minister of Health of Singapore, Gan Kim Young, and 11 health ministers of the Asia Pacific region. In her keynote speech she emphasized that “NCDs are forcing us to think very differently. They compel us to think about how to organize a new international response, and who to engage; NCDs are carving out a place in a future health ecosystem and are flagging important normative implications in this regard; and they are driving the needle on health at a very different level, domestically”. The text of the speech can be accessed here. On The same day Dr. Nishtar appeared in an interview with Singapore minister of Health Dr. Amy Khor in the program Singapore Tonight, exchanging views on diabetes epidemic. The Interview can be watched here

November 11-12, 2018: The annual meeting of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the global gathering of thinks tanks was held in Dubai this week. Dr Sania Nishtar has been a member of the health and wellbeing-related Global Agenda Councils since their initiation 11 years ago and also attended this year’s meetings. Council members leverage networks to cross-pollinate thinking in pursuit of a systemic approaches to solutions. The Council on the Future of Health and Healthcare is comprised of expert stakeholders representing the public and private healthcare sectors and working together to provide insights on how the evolution of global Health and Healthcare will affect us all in the decades to come including through the implementation of the Fourth industrial revolution. Dr. Nishtar was chair of the Council from 2016-2018 and has now handed over the chairing role to Helen Clark.

November 6, 2018: The Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs’ General Meeting of its participants was held in Geneva from 5 to 6 November 2018 and was hosted by the Government of Switzerland. Dr. Sania Nishtar was the closing speaker. In her speech she emphasized that “the future of health and societies appears to have a deep interplay with NCDs—but transformations are happening both outside of the health sector and largely in the private sector”. She further added that “The future of health can be about the future of NCDs, but many governance imperatives are emerging, in relation to norms and standards and ethical, patient safety, regulatory and human resource capacity issues. There is a need to explore how we will overcome the financial access barriers which will deepen and ensure access to medicines for all”. Her speech can be viewed here

November 5, 2018: The International Advisory Board (IAB) on Global Health of the Federal Government of Germany held its second meeting in Berlin on November 5-6. Dr Sania Nishtar participated in her capacity as a member of the IAB. The IAB is providing inputs towards the process of development of Germany’s Global Health Strategy and, as part of that process, was briefed at the German Ministry of health and the ministry of Education and Research. The Board also met the Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn.

November 1, 2018: The first meeting of the of the World Oncology Forum Task Force was held in Villa Veronesi in Milan from November 1-3. Since Dr. Sania Nishtar was unable to participate in person, she delivered her opening address via a virtual link. She outlined how cancer and management of cancer was at the heart of most of the innovations in therapeutics today and what this was heralding for healthcare patters and health systems. She outlined the imperative for the establishment of new norms, capacities and regulatory systems. The World Oncology Forum has previously been very visible in relation to Cancer advocacy—their best-known campaigns appeals include: “Stop Cancer now!”“Treat the treatable” “Prevent the preventable” and “From Research to Policy”.

October 30, 2018: According to a press release issued by the Government of Pakistan, Dr. Sania Nishtar has bee invited to chair the board of BISP, Pakistan acclaimed safety net institution. Following her acceptance, she has been appointed today. the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is the Government of Pakistan’s National Cash Transfer Programme and its premier safety net institution, which currently runs a targeted USD 1.15 billion national-level cash transfer program for 5.5 million poor and marginalized women. The immediate objective of the Programme consumption smoothing and cushioning the negative effects of slow economic growth.Its long-term objectives are to meet the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate extreme and chronic poverty and empowerment of women.The Programmewas established through an Act of Parliament and works under the executive patronage of Prime Minister.

October 26, 2918: The Global Conference on Primary Health Care was convened in Kazakhstan on the occasion of the 40^thP anniversary of the Declaration of Alma Atafrom 25-26 October 2018. The conference was hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan, in joint coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, at the Palace of Independence in Astana. The conference aimed to renew political commitment to placing primary health care (PHC) at the heart of achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Agenda. Charing and moderating the session on NCDs at the event, Dr. Sania Nishtar said “there can be no UHC without attention to NCDs—the world’s biggest killers”. Several country representatives also spoke on the panel, including Anda Caska, Minister of Health of Latvia, Deputy Minister Pinovich of Belarus and representatives of Cuba and the host country.

October 19, 2018: Dr Sania Nishtar was the keynote presenter at a symposium hosted by Western Australia—Precision Public Health Asia (PPH Asia 2018). With the theme ‘Discover, Share, Identify and Influence’, PPH Asia 2018 brought together a core group of visionaries and innovators to explore the current state of precision public health and consider the impact recent technological advancements are having to improve health outcomes. Her video-relayed presentation can viewed below. The event was hosted by the University of Western Australia and the Department of Health of Western Australia.

October 9, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the symposium “Engaging with Private Providers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries” during the fifth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR) in Liverpool, UK.  HSR is a 2-yearly conference organized by Health Systems Global—a consortium of international organizations and many other leading actors in global health. Dr. Sania talked about the importance of strengthening quality of care, effective regulation, and the imperative of harnessing the outreach of informal health providers.

October 2, 2018: Organizers of the multi-country south Asian trial (Control of Blood Pressure & Risk Attenuation trial [COBRA]) recently held a ‘Policy Forum on Hypertension and Cardiometabolic Risk’ in Colombo. The trial is undergoing in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka and is supported by the Welcome Trust. Dr. Sania Nishtar, delivered the keynote address. She underscored the need for Universal Health Coverage to include hypertension and diabetes care for all segments of the population “Countries are crying out desperately for help. This is evidenced by data from WHO’s Country Cooperation Strategies in more than 150 countries. We could end up undermining the economic viability of Universal Health Coverage if plans failed to address the world’s leading killer”, she said.

October 2, 2018: The World Cancer Congress (WCC) is a major event in the global cancer control agenda. It is arecognized international conference “which encourages effective knowledge transfer and best practices exchange amongst 3,500 cancer control and public health experts from 150 countries”. It aims to strengthen the participants’ action and impact on national, regional and international scales through a multidisciplinary program that features the latest successful interventions in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the opening plenary of the conference; her talk, delivered through a video link can be accessed below.

27 September 2018: The High-Level commission on NCDs hosted an event at the United Nations in New York on September 27. Co-chairs of the commission, Dr. Tabare Vasquez, President of Uruguay and Dr. Sania Nishtar co-chaired the meeting. The status of progress of the commission and its scope of work for its next phase were discussed by the co-chairs and other commissioners who were present.

27 September 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar delivered an impassioned address at the 3rd High-Level Meeting on NCDs at then United Nations. She outlined the importance of many developments by the private sector, which are paving the way for health systems to become more choric care centric and reiterated the need for stepping up public roles—norm setting, bolstering regulatory capacity and the need to address financial access barriers. Her co-panelists at the session included President Edgar Lungu of Zambia, The Honorable Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, and Zoleka Mandela. The text of Sania Nishtar’s speech can be accessed here.

26 September 2018, 6 pm: Dr. Nishtar ended the day by delivering the closing keynote back at the United Nations event on Addressing Childhood Obesity.  In her remarks, Dr. Nishtar underscored the importance of data-driven solutions.  Without data, we cannot ensure that our policies benefit the who need it most. By expanding and standardizing data collection, we can begin to tackle childhood obesity.The text of Sania Nishtar’s talk can be accessed here. The event was organized by the Government of Portugal and was chaired by Adalberto Campos Fernandes, Minister of Health of Portugal and Fernando Araujo, Secretary of State for health of Portugal. James Chau moderated the event. Dr. Sania Nishtar has previously served as the Chair of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood obesity, the recommendations of which are currently being implemented, globally.

26 September 2018, 11 am: Dr. Sania Nishtar joined the Devex/World Economic Forum discussion on the importance of early detection and diagnosis. By highlighting the remarkable potential, the technologies and innovations pose for the NCD world, Dr. Nishtar highlighted the imperative that these benefits be equitably distributed to those most in need.Dr. Nishtar continued and participated in the Sustainable Development Impact Summit, discussing the role of public-private partnerships in addressing the burden of NCDs.

26 September 2018, 8 am: In the week of the 73rd UNGA, Dr. Sania Nishtar started the day at the SUN Group meeting. Dr. Nishtar stressed the importance of networking out of silos, creating platforms for shared experience, and strong governance in order to address malnutrition in all its forms. “To make meaningful change, we must institutionalize this at the country level”, she said.

September 25, 2018, 6 pm: On September 25^th, Dr. Sania Nishtar made the fourth keynote speech of the day on sessions associated with the 73^rd United Nations General Assembly. She finished the day giving both the opening keynote and speaking on the panel organized by Access Accelerated and the World Bank on Collaborating to Overcome Barriers to Decisive Global and Local Action on NCDs.  “With a clear strategy, dedicated funding, and institutional partnerships, we can work together to translate words into actions.  It is important that this agenda by set by those on the ground”, she said.

25 September 2018, 4 pm: Dr. Sania Nishtar delivered the closing keynote for EAT’s high-level event on “Food Systems Approaches to the Prevention of NCDs” at the United Nations headquarters in New York.The meeting was hosted by the Governments of Norway, Finland, Sweden and Indonesia, C40, EAT, WHO, the SUN Movement and the Nordic Council of Ministers.Dr. Nishtar highlighted the dual burden of malnutrition—both over- and under-nutrition—as contributors to NCDs. By partnering with public and private organizations, we can use a myriad of interventions and regulations to ensure that food promotes health rather than disease.The of Sania Nishtar’sstatement can be accessed here.

25 September 2018, 10 am: Dr. Sania Nishtar kicked-off the Teva-Intel-IAPO multi-sectorial talk with her keynote distillation of the NCD burden as borne by individual patients.  Although patients may bear sixteen or more chronic diseases, they often do not fit the “classic” image of a non-communicable disease patient.  “People do not come neatly packaged into silos; neither should our solutions”, she said.

25 September 2018, 9 am: Dr. Sania Nishtar gave a keynote address at the opening session of an event organized by NCD Synergies Project at Partners in Health, the Program in Global NCDs and Social Change at Harvard Medical School, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust in support of The Lancet Commission on Reframing NCDs and injuries for the Poorest Billion. This meeting was held in New York on the sidelines of the 73^rd UNGA. Sania outlined how the global community can better address the burden borne by the world’s poorest and neediest due to NCDs and injuries. Dr. Nishtar pushed for an evolution beyond the traditional 4×4 approach to NCDs, impressing the importance of systems-level interventions to meet the real-world needs on the ground.

September 24, 2018: Dr Sania Nishtar was the closing keynote speaker at the launch of the Defeat-NCD Partnership, a new global public-private partnership established to progress sustained actions against non-communicable diseases towards achieving SDG 3 by 2030. The launch took place at the United Nations General Assembly. Other speakers included Ulla Tornaes, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark; Dr The Honorable Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis; Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk; Grete Faremo, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UNOPS; and Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

August 31, 2018: Donald Berwick and Sania Nishtar publish a commentary today, in JAMA titled “Crossing the Global Health Care Quality Chasm: A Key Component of Universal Health Coverage: the commentary can be accessed here

September 3, 2018: Dr Sania Nishtar gave the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the ministerial meeting on Universal Health Coverage for the Eastern Mediterranean region in Salalah, Oman on September 3. She talked about the importance of integrating non-communicable diseases into universal health coverage plans and emphasized that it would be a tragic missed opportunity if countries failed to address the world’s leading killers whilst they planned to cover their populations for health.

August 29, 2018: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) of the United States released it report “Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Healthcare Worldwide”, today. The report and details about its launch can be accessed here. Co-chairs of the NASEM Committee which was responsible for producing this report, Donald Berwick and Sania Nishtar concluded by stating that the “the global status of healthcare quality is shockingly poor & worrisome”

August 23, 2018: Dr Sania Nishtar chaired the second face to face meeting of the high level commission on NCDs in Geneva where plans for the second phase of the commission’s work were drawn up. These will be posted online shortly for public consultation.

July 25, 2018: The World Health Organization hosted a meeting on NCDs in Moscow from July 23-25. The meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Health of Russia and its objective was to review plans underway in preparation for the 3rd High Level Summit on NCDs on September 27, 2018. Co-chairs of the high-level commission on NCDS Dr. Veronica Skortsova, Minister of health of Russia and Dr. Sania Nishtar met with the WHO NCDs directors to explore how to exploit synergy in relation to the work of the Commission.

July 14, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar gave the keynote address at the NCDs event in Chennai organized by the Public Health Foundation of India, DIWWAAAS and HRIDAY. The event focused on Girls, Women and Diabetes and was held on July 14-15, 2018. The aim of the workshop was to share and learn about the challenges and potential solutions on diabetes prevention and control especially employing a gender lens, within the overall ambit of prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases.

July 5, 2018: President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, invited Dr Sania Nishtar to speak in the opening segment of the interactive hearing organised as part of the preparatory process of the third UN high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The interactive hearing was held on Thursday, 5 July 2018 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The text of the speech can be accessed here.

Dr. Sania Nishtar joins the International Advisory Board of the Federal Government of Germany’s on Global Health and attended its first meeting in Berlin from July 1-3. This board advises on current challenges and trends in global health and makes suggestions how Germany could further develop its engagement in the international community as the leading government, globally to promote global health.

June 11, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar and Johan Rockström gave the State of the Union address at the opening of the 5^th EAT EAT Stockholm Food Forum in Stockholm. The address can be viewed here and press coverage about the event can be accessed here. 

June 1, 2018: The report of the High-Level Commission on NCDs, was released in Geneva on June 1, 2018. The Report was released by co-chairs of the Commission, President Tabare Vasquez, President of Uruguay and Dr. Sania Nishtar, President of Heartfile. The Report was handed over to Director General of WHO, Dr. Tedros. The Report was published in The Lancet on the same day. The WHO monograph can be accessed and the event webcast can be viewed here.

May 25, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar spoke at several sessions accompanying the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva this week. She was the opening speaker for both the Scaling up Nutrition side events on the 22nd and the 23rd of May. She was a panelist on a session on NCDs alongside President Michele Bachelet organized by the NCD alliance and in addition also spoke on a panel organized by the government of Netherlands, Colombia, and Norwary. In these sessions she spoke alongside the Ministers of Health of Jamaica, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, DR Congo, and Norway and other health experts. Dr. Sania also chaired a meeting of the High-Level Commission on NCDs this week at the Palais de Nations. She keynoted the breakfast townhall event of NCD Child and also gave opening remarks at the G4 Surgical Alliance event this week.

May 22, 2017: SaniaNishtar’scommentary explaining how to integrate Non-communicable diseases with Universal Health Coverage has been published on the British Medical Journal blog and can be accessed here: “Opportunities exist to negotiate policy space for NCDs in each health systems’ six building blocks, and therefore in UHC plans”, she says.

May 16, 2018: The British Medical Journal has published Sania Nishtar’s interview in BMJ Confidential, an informal space in which they quiz doctors about their hopes, fears, worst mistakes, biggest inspirations, and numerous other matters. The interviewcan be accessed here

May 16, 2018: the fourth and the final in-person meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s committee on “Improving the Quality of Healthcare,Globally” was held in Washington on May 14 and 15. Dr Sania Nishtar and Dr. Donald Berwick, Committee co-chairs, chaired the meeting. The committee is expected to publish its report in September 2018.

May 8, 2018: Dr Sania Nishtar and Helen Clark write about the importance of gender parity in global health in a Project Syndicate comment which can be accessed here:

May 7, 2018: The third meeting of the WHO High Level Commission on NCDs and (the first one that was held in person) was held in Geneva on May 7, 2018 at the WHO headquarters. A large number of commissioners were present at the meeting. Deliberations focused on the first report of the Commission, which is meant to be released on June 1, 2018.

May 1, 2018: the Oped titled More provinces? by Sania Nishtar, published in The News can be accessed here.

April 17, 2018: Dr Sania Nishtar’s Op-ed in Gulf News titled “Fight against cervical cancer picks momentum” can be accessed here.

April 13, 2018: the Oped titled The E-voting Challenge by Sania Nishtar, published in The News can be accessed here.

April 9, 2018: the WHO Global Dialogue on Partnerships for Sustainable Financing of Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control was held in Copenhagen from 9-11 April. Dr. Sania Nishtar spoke at the closing plenary about the need for a three pronged approach to NCDs—domestic integration of NCDs into exiting systems, need for long term  domestic foresight and catalytic role of the international system.Her speech can be viewed here.

April 4, 2018: The Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH) and the Human Development Foundation (HDF) launched the “Study to Assess the Volume of Illicit Cigarette Brands in Pakistan” The study was carried out under the technical guidance of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Knowledge Hub, Economics of Tobacco Control Project and assessed the volume of sale of illicit cigarette brands in ten cities and their adjoining rural areas across Pakistan. Dr. Sania Nishtar was the chief guest at the event. Read More.

April 3, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar was a featured speaker at the Center for Peace, Security and Developmental Studies Institute Seminar on “Pakistan: how to tap the silver lining” where she spoke about the importance of transparency and governance reform.

April 7, 2018: Project Syndicate, one of the world’s opinion pages, publishes Dr. Sania Nishtar’s Op-Ed outlining how corruption impedes Universal Health Coverage on World Health Day 2018. Read here

March 17, 2018: Dr. Sania writes about the importance of human capital development for national growth and progress. Read more.

March 8, 2018: In an Op-Ed in The NEWs International Sania Nishtar and Helen Clark are aiming to inspire a Women’s health movement. Read here

March 1, 2018: Lord Nigel Crisp, co-chairs of UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health and an advocate for Nursing Now and Dr Sania Nishtar write about how important it is to accord attention to the potential of nurses in this Oped. Read here.

February 21, 2018: Dr. Sania writes about the importance of human capital development for national growth and progress. Read the oped here.

March 18, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to be the Chief Guest at the Third Pakistan Golf Association Amateur Ladies Golf Championship in Islamabad. She gave away trophies and in her keynote speech she said “golf has taught me many things in life. The importance of visioning, problem solving, practice, persistence, graciousness and respect”. She said it is critical for women to have equal participation in physical activity and sport, since that is a double-edged advantage both for women’s empowerment as well as has health benefits. Dr. Sania awarded the trophy to the winning team from Thailand.

March 21, 2018: It is now well established that most of the determinants of health lie outside of thecontrol of the healthcare system—these also includemany environmentaldeterminants” said Dr. Sania Nishtar at the opening of the International Conference on Environment and Health at the Allama Iqbal Open University here in Islamabad. Dr. Sania, who was invited to be the chief guest at the opening of the conference paid tribute to the organizers of the meeting for taking health “out of the silo” for the discourse at the conference.

February 13, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited as chief of honor in the Punjab Human Development Forum, Pakistan. During her speech Dr. Sania Nishtar stated that Human capital will be the single most important determinant of economic stability of any country. The event took place in Lahore.

February 2, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar speak as a keynote speaker at the 1st Interdisciplinary Conference on the theme of “Action Plan for Physical Rehabilitation- RoadMap for Pakistan”. Foundation International University in Islamabad organized the conference.

February 1, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar participated as a panelist in one of the key session “Making the World Safe from the Threats of Emerging Infectious Diseases” at PRINCE MAHIDOL AWARD CONFERENCE commenced during 29 January to 3 February 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand.

January 30,2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar gave the Key Note Speech at SUNAR National Nutrition Research Conference 2018. The event was organized SUN Academia & Research Network Pakistan in Islamabad.

January 23-26, 2018: The 48^thAnnual Meetingof World economic forum, was kicked off under the theme, ‘’creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World’’, with the aim of identifying ways for humanity to work collectively once more in the face of urgent global and regional challenges.Dr. Sania Nishtar boldly expressed her views as a panelist in the important sessions “South Asia Outlook” & “Asia Game Changers” held on 24^th January. The former session can be viewed here.

January 16-17, 2018: Regional and Geneva-based NCD Directors and WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs Co-chair Dr. Sania Nishtar gathered in Geneva for WHO Internal Planning Meeting to discuss the progress and next steps for WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs.

January 15, 2018: Dr. Sania Nishtar in her Key Note Speech at LIFECON 2018 highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary & Interdisciplinary Approach in Health Sciences. Air University Islamabad organized the conference.

December 18-19, 2017: Dr Sania Nishtar co-chaired—along with Don Berwick—the second committee meeting of the Global Study on the Quality of Healthcare in Low- and Middle-Income Countries on December 18-19 in Nairobi. The study has been organized by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

December 15, 2017:The high-level forum on universal health coverage, was held in Tokyo from December 12-15. The Forum was jointly organized by the Government of Japan, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UHC2030; it concluded with the adoption of the Tokyo Declaration All Together to Accelerate Progress towards UHC. Dr. Sania Nishtar was one of the 400 invitees to the Universal Health Coverage Forum and moderated the plenary at the High-Level segment of the Forum, footage from which can be accessed here.

December 9, 2017 Dr. Sania Nishtar gave the keynote address at the NCD Forum in Sharjah on December 9. Th video of the keynote can be accessed here.

December 6, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the 8^th public health conference in Islamabad and spoke about the future of healthcare.

December 6, 2017: Heartfile held a special session on Heartfile Health Financing at8th Public Health Conference held at the Health Services Academy in Islamabad. Heartfile Health Financing Stakeholders—donors, doctors, and operational staff—deliberated at the event about scale up modalities.

November 20, 2017: Sania Nishtar joined Helen Clark and others at University College London for a Chatham house style event hosted by Kent Buse and Sarah Hawkes to brainstorm about the future of Health

November 18, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the Information Technology for Development Conference in Lahore on November 18, 2017. Her talk was focused on the application of ICTD for improvinghealth outcomes and the manner in which ICT breakthroughs are creating new opportunities.

November 14, 2017: Read Dr. Sania Nishtar’sOped “Diabetes is a serious women’s issue” in Diabetes Voice on the occasion of World Diabetes Day  https://goo.gl/sPkQiT

November 12: The World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Future Councils—the world’s foremost interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking on the future—met in Dubai on November 11-12, 2017. This initiative comprises 35 Councils, which focus on challenges that are global in nature. The uture of Health and Healthcare is one of the Future Councils and is co-chaired by Dr. Sania Nishtar, along with Dr. Andre Goy. Both the co-chairs convened a meeting of their council in Madinat Jumeriah conference centre over the two days.

October 23, 2017: On Monday, October 23,2017, the Harvard Global Health Institute and the Women and HealthInitiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, hosted a symposium on gender and the global health workforce to kick off the first-ever celebration of Harvard Worldwide Week in Boston. Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the symposium. The text of her speech can be accessed here.

October 20, 2017: President Dr. Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay and Dr. Sania Nishtar have been named as co-chairs of the newly established WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs. Both the co-chairs met on the sidelines of the Global Conference on NCDs to discuss initial modalities of the commission.

October 20, 2017: The WHO Global Conference on NCDs was recently held in Montevideo, Uruguay from 18-20 October 2017. The conference aimed to highlight the critical links between reducing premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases, promoting mental health and well-being and enhancing policy coherence across areas that impact the governance, prevention, management and surveillance of NCDs. Dr. Sania Nishtar was one of the speakers in the final plenary on “The Way Forward” and spoke about the imperative innovative approaches to accelerate the response to NCDs in view of the upcoming high-level summit on NCDs in 2018.

October 18, 2017: In light of the call in the Sustainable Development Goals for achieving Universal Health Coverage, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has convened a Committee on Improving Global Quality of Healthcare. The committee will be co-chaired by Don Berwick, former United States Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Dr. Sania Nishtar. Updates about the public component of the committee can be accessed here

October 12, 2017: The inaugural Women Leaders in Global Health conference was held at Stanford University on Oct. 12. The conference was attended by over 400 women and men – representing more than 250 organizations and from 68 countries – and watched live by another 400 viewers joining in from homes and workplaces around the world. Dr. Sania Nishtar gave one of the two Vision Talks at the Conference in an interview format. She was interviewed by Susan Chira, gender editor of New York Times. Footage of the event can be viewed here https://t.co/ZKHMwMWxqG

October 4, 2017
Dr. Sania Nishtar publishes two opeds in The News International describing the ramifications, costs and dynamics of corruption in general and underscores the importance of some of the evidence based measures relevant to pakistan to address them. These articles can be accessed here:
The Corruption Imperative https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/231091-The-corruption-imperative?src=ilaw
The Road to anti-corruption https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/234424-Road-to-anti-corruption

September 20, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar attended the advisory board meeting of EAT in New York on the sidelines of the 72nd UNGA. An initiative of the Stordalen Foundation and the Stockholm resilience center, EAT is focused is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today: providing the growing global population a healthy and nutritious diet within safe environmental limits.

September 19, 2017:  On the occasion of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit, the World Economic Forum held a session on “Public and Private Collaboration to Close the Gap on Financing for NCDs”. The session gathered business leaders, government, academia and civil society to share examples on how innovators have successfully deployed resources and capital towards impact on the NCD agenda, around the world. Sania Nishtar was one of the panelists and shared the manner in which Heartfile Health Financing is helping save lives in Pakistan.

September 18, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar is a member of the SUN Lead Group and attended the Lead Group meeting in New York at the UNICEF headquarters on September 19, 2017. SUN is a global movement to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The SUN Movement Lead Group has the overall responsibility for the Movements progress towards achieving its objectives.

September 18, 2017: the global NGO Path in collaboration with a number of partners from the public and private worlds is leading the establishment of a new alliance aiming to promote “Access to Treatment for NCDs”. The alliance was launched by Sir George Alleyne in a Ceremony in New York on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly. In her keynote speech at the event, Dr. Sania Nishtar underscores the importance of access to treatment both in financial and geographic access terms and drew on personal experiences, calling for higher visibility to be accorded to international NCD initiatives.

September 18, 2017
Dr. Sania Nishtar outlines the reasons of failure to address non-communicable diseases and makes a strong call for an appropriate institutional mechanism to address them in this powerful Lancet commentary. http://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32481-9/fulltext

September 7, 2017: The European Public Health Alliance hosted its 8th annual meeting in Brussels this year on September 7, placing a key question at the heart of the deliberations: How to spark change for chronic disease prevention? Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the event and presented a number of policy recommendations to break the deadlock on chronic diseases. The conference deliberations will soon be posted on https://epha.org/

July 13, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar was the closing keynote speaker at the 2^nd Global Summit on Circulatory Health held in Singapore this week. The meeting was hosted by the World Heart Federation. Sania Nishtar spoke about her recent experience as nominee for WHO Director General and drew on her insights after having met with ministers of health and high-level delegations from over 190 countries. She dilated on the need for mainstreaming NCD prevention and control in country health systems planning and elaborated on the huge need to do so, which was highlighted during her interactions with country delegations.

May 23, 2017: After an intensive 18 month election campaign for the position of WHO Director General, Dr Sania Nishtar was defeated by Tedros Adanhom of Ethiopia in the final election which was held at the World Health Assembly on May 23^rd, 2017.

In a dignified final campaign newsletter, Sania Nishtar accepts defeat gracefully. She conveys here deepest gratitude to all those who supported her, wished the new WHO DG all the best and referred to her candidacy and her nomination as an “extraordinary privilege”. Sania Nishtar draws attention to her efforts aimed at having initialized an international movement for change in drawing attention to some of the root causes facing the UN system as outlined in her final Op-Ed in the campaign  and reiterated in her final speech at the World Health Assembly. She also recalled her efforts to promote “new deal” for WHO, one where she envisaged institutionalizing transparency and accountability as central tenets to delivering institutional reform, and hoped that these efforts would help catalyze a movement within WHO.

Her candidacy was widely hailed both internationally and in Paksitan as is evidenced by the Endorsementsand Newsletters

Visit WHO webpage about the election

View Documentary about the election campaign

May 23, 2017: all the three nominees for the position of Director-General of WHO, Sania Nishtar, David Nabarro, Tedros Adanhom,were invited to speak at the World Health Assembly, addressing delegations and ministers of health from 194-member state countries. The text of Sania Nishtar’s speech can be accessed here.

May 19, 2017: In her final op-ed before the vote for WHO DG, published in the BMJ, Sania Nishtar discusses her approach to the campaign, which will have an important bearing on implementing her vision for a new WHO, if elected a week from now. Fingers crossed!

April 25, 2017: Sania Nishtar spoke at a candidates’ event organized by the government of Fiji and the Pacific Islands forum during the Pacific Heads of Health meeting which was held on April 25. This event was organized for candidates of WHO DG. She also met with volunteers and government officials, got to wear a traditional dress and learnt about the challenges facing Fiji and the Pacific region.

March 31, 2017: At the beautiful UNASUR headquarters in Ecuador on March 31, Sania Nishtar met Member States from the South America region and put forward her vision for accelerating reform within the WHO. Along with the other two finalists for WHO DG, David Nabarro and TedrosAdanhom, she spoke at a press conference and a panel discussion for WHO DG nominees.

In this final newsletter before the election, public health legends, Sir George Alleyne, along with eight other global health leaders: Sir Cary Cooper, Prof. Pekka Puska, Dr. Robert Beaglehole, Dr. Ruth Bonita, Prof. Alexandre Kalache, Dr. Mohamed Abdi Jama, Prof. Fareed Minhas, and Prof. Samad Shera have come forward strongly to support Sania Nishtar’s candidacy. Read more. Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired and Prof. Terence Gibson, Sidney Smith Junior and double Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy have written why she is most suitable candidate. Read fifth newsletter herehttps://www.sanianishtar.info/newsletter-5-may-20-2017/

May 4, 2017:  Pakistan’s rich and diverse civil society stand behind Sania Nishtar’s candidacy with aletter to Member States of the World Health Assembly urging them to support the candidacy. The letter was signed by 122 civil society organizations and can be accessed here. As Sania Nishtar starts her 17-country trip-to Europe, the last leg on the election tour, eminent leaders from Europe such as Pekka Puska announce their endorsement as well. Read fourth newsletter here.

April 27, 2017: Support for Sania Nishtar’s candidature for WHO soars as stalwarts such as Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired, Harvard former dean of public health school Barry Bloom and Musimbi Kanyoro, head of the global Fund for Women endorse her candidature. One of the most significant endorsements came as a letter of support from the Steering Committee of the Emerging Markets Symposium Initiative of the Green Templeton College, Oxford University. The collective voice of these experts is a huge win for the campaign. Read third newsletter here.

April 19: This week Sania Nishtar is touring Asia and the Pacific. Robert Beaglehole and Ruth Bonita one of the most respected health experts who have formerly worked at WHO at leadership positions have come forward to endorse her candidature. Sir Trevor Hassel, Sir Cary Cooper, and one of the former WHO Assistant Director-Generals, Abedi Jama have also reiterated their strong support for her candidacy. Prof. Fareed Minhas from Pakistan has explained why she is the best choice. Read the second newsletter here.

April 10, 2017: The first campaign newsletter has just been launched and can be accessed here. As Sania Nishtar tours Latin America and the Caribbean meeting heads of state and ministers of health and foreign affairs to promote her candidature, experts and respected personalities from across the region come forward to support her campaign, including the Sir George Alleyne, Darwin Labarthe, Beatriz Champagne and many others.

March 6. 2017: I her capacity as nominee for Director General of WHO, Dr. Sania Nishtar participated in an event at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, with a focus on Political leadership for global health. The footage of the event can be accessed.
Video

February 10: on February 10 the three  WHO DG nominees, Dr Sania Nishtar, Dr Tedros Adhanom and Dr David Nabarro were invited to Science Po in Paris to interact with students, faculty and members of the civil society. Science Po is France’s prestigious 150 year-old international research university. The nominees were asked to speak about the future of health and the role of WHO. Dr Jean-Marie Le Guen, France’s Minister of State for Development and Francophonie of France, closed the meeting with his closing speech, reaffirming France’s commitment to global health. 

February 3, 2017: In her capacity as one of the three nominees for Director-General of the World Health Organization, Sania Nishtar joined the two other nominees for a dinner discussion at the opening dinner of the Prince Mahidhol Award Conference in Bangkok on February 3, 2017.

January 25, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar is one of the three candidates who have been nominated for Director-General of the World Health Organization by the Executive Board of the organization.

January 25, 2017: Just published: blog by Juan Carlos Negrette,  Director, Global Health at the University of Utah about the WHO DG election http://healthsciences.utah.edu/globalhealth/news/2017/01/winds-of-change-at-who.php

January 22, 2017: Minister of Health of Pakistan, Saira Afzal Tarar, and Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Tehmina Janjua hosted a reception at Pakistan house in honor of the Ministers and WHO Executive Board Members attending the WHO Executive Board meeting, a day ahead of the WHO DG Election. Dr. Sania Nishtar, Pakistan’s Candidate spoke at the event about her vision for a new WHO.

January 19, 2017: Dr. Sania Nishtar moderated the session on the Future of Health and Healthcare at the 2017 Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. The first morning session on the first day of the meeting kicked off an exciting series of discussions on the future of health and healthcare at Davos. During the meeting, she also participated in a number of other events.

November 30, 2016: The 2016 World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) was held in Doha from November 29 to 30, 2016. The invitation only event was attended by experts from all around the world. The conference is now recognised as a major international event in global health. Dr. Sania Nishtar participated in the conference as a panellist in the plenary session “Global Diffusion of Healthcare Innovation”. The Panel was moderated by Mishal Husain. H.E. Minister of Health of Oman, Dr Ahmed Mohammed Obaid Al Saidi, was also one of the panelists.

November 25, 2016: The 9^th Global Conference on health promotion was held in Shanghai from November 21-24.  Dr. Sania Nishtar, was part of the Pakistan delegation to this invitation-only meeting. Along with the Minister of Health of Pakistan, H.E. Saira Afzal Tarar, Dr. Nishtar held several meetings on the margins of the conference to create awareness about her candidature for Director-General of the World Health Organization.

November 14, 2016: The World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Future Councils—the world’s foremost interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking on the future—met in Dubai on November 13-14, 2016. This initiative comprises 35 Councils, which focus on challenges that are global in nature. The Future of Health and Healthcare is one of the Future Councils and is co-chaired by Dr. Sania Nishtar, along with Dr. Andre Goy, a celebrated US based oncologist. Both the co-chairs convened a meeting of their council in Madinat Jumeriah conference centre over the two days and chalked a plan for the way forward.

November 3, 2016: The Chatham House in London, held a Forum on November 3, 2016 where candidates for Director-General of the World Health Organization had the opportunity to respond to non-governmental stakeholders, medical professionals, academics, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Framed as “Question Time: Electing the Next Director-General of the World Health Organization”, the event was moderated by Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet and was co-chaired by David Heymann, Head and Senior Fellow, Centre on Global Health Security, Chatham House and Suerie Moon, Director of Research, Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of Geneva. The event can be accessed here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/event/question-time-electing-next-director-general-world-health-organization#sthash.zVw9LaT2.dpuf

November 1, 2016: Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker at the United Nations Women’s guild morning event at the Palais de Nations in Geneva held on November 1, 2016. The event was hosted by Ambassador Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative in Geneva. Dr. Nishtar spoke about the role of women in Pakistan and the importance of women’s empowerment more broadly.

November 2, 2016: As part of the process to elect a new Director-General, WHO in Geneva at its headquarters held a Candidates Forum where candidates for Director-General were interviewed and presented their visions. Dr. Sania Nishtar participated in the forum as one of the six candidates. Footage from the event can be accessed here:

http://www.who.int/dg/election/candidates-forum/en/

On October 13, 2016, Dr. Sania Nishtar attended the 80^thGulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Health Ministers meeting in Riyadh to present her candidature for Director-General of the World Health Organization. She also discussed matters of global health with six ministers of health from the GCC region.

October 13, 2016: Pakistan Embassy in Manila hosted a breakfast event on the occasion of the WHO Western-Pacific Region (WPRO), Regional Committee meeting on October 12, 2016 to promote the candidature of Dr. Sania Nishtar for WHO Director-General. The event was well attended by a large number of ministers from the WPRO region and especially from the pacific region. Dr. Sania also attended the WPRO Regional Committee meeting and held bilateral meetings with a number of ministers and visiting delegations.

October 6, 2016: Pakistan’s Minister of Health H.E. Saira Afzal Tarar hosted a reception on the occasion of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) Regional Committee meeting in Cairo on October 4, 2016, aimed at promoting the candidature of Dr. Sania Nishtar for WHO Director-General. Dr Sania also attended the EMRO Regional Committee meeting and held bilateral meetings with a number of ministers and visiting delegations.

September 28, 2016: Dr. Sania Nishtar attended theWHO PAHO Regional Committee meeting fromSeptember 24-28 in Washington to create awareness about her candidacy for WHO Director-General. She also met a number of ministers of health from the WHO Americas region and members of visiting delegations from countries and apprised them about her candidacy. On the margins of the meeting, the Pakistan Embassy in Washington hosted a lunch event where Dr Sania Nishtar presentedher vision for WHO and the 10 Pledges for Action. The event was very well attended by minsters and senior leaders.

September 15, 2016: The Pakistan Embassy in Copenhagen hosted a breakfast event on the margins of theWHO European Region (EURO), Regional Committee meeting in Copenhagen on September 13, 2016 where Dr Sania Nishtarunveiled“A New Vision for WHO” and the associated 10 Pledges for Action. The event was well attended by ministers of health and members of the delegations attending the WHO EURO meeting. Dr Sania also met a number of ministers of health and members of the visiting delegations from European countries and apprised them about her candidacy.

September 10, 2016: In her capacity as candidate for Director-General, World Health Organization, Dr. Sania Nishtar participated in the WHO South-East Asian Region (SEARO) Regional Committee meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka from September 5-8, 2016. During the meeting, she had the opportunity to present her candidacy to Ministers of Health from the WHO SEARO region and other delegates attending the meeting.

August 28, 2016: In her capacity as candidate for Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Sania Nishtar participated in the WHO African Region Regional Committee (AFRO) meeting from August 19-23, 2016. During the meeting, she had the opportunity to present her candidacy to ministers of health from the WHOAfrican region and other delegates attending the meeting.

World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Mental Health (2014-2016) has recently released a guide for Workplace Mental Health; the guide can be accessed here. Sania Nishtar served as Vice chair of the Council and promotes these seven actions towards a mentally healthy organization.

June 2, 2016: Heartfile hosted an event in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada) to disseminate preliminary findings of the evaluation of Heartfile Health Financing. The eventwas attended by a wide range of audience from academia, government of Pakistan, developing partners, health sector and civil society. Dr. Sania Nishtar, President Heartfilechaired. Mr. Werner Leipach, Country Director Asian Developing Bank highlighted issues around financial risk protection and innovative health financing initiatives being imperative in progressing towards Universal Health Coverage.

June 4, 2016: The Global Summit on Cardiovascular Health was recently held at the World Congress of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Health (WCC 2016) on June 4, 2016. Dr. Sania Nishtar was one of the featured speakers at the event and her talk, relayed through the video, can be accessed here. 

May 27, 2016: The Independent Accountability Panel appointed by the UN Secretary-General, chaired by Dr. Sania Nishtar met on May 27^th in Geneva for their second meeting to deliberate on its first report. The meeting was attended by all the IAP members. The IAP is tasked to produce an annual comprehensive synthesis report on the state of the health of women, children and adolescents. The IAP is to provide the global community with the best available evidence on progress towards achieving the objectives of the Global Strategy and the relevant Sustainable Development Goals, and to make recommendations on overcoming barriers to progress.

May 26, 2016: On the occasion of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the World Health Organization hosted a side event at the Palais de Nations on Ending Childhood Obesity. Titled, “Securing the Future of our Children”, the session was organized by the Permanent Missions of Ghana, Malaysia and Mexico and was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of New Zealand and Zambia. Co-chairs of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Sir Peter Gluckman gave the introductory presentations. The event was chaired by Professor Fiona Bull. In addition to the Co-Chairs, speakers at the event included the Minister of health of Malaysia, and the Vice Minister of Health of Mexico.

May 25, 2016: On May 25^th, the Minister of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar and Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Tehmina Janjua, hosted a reception at the Palais de Nations to formally announce the candidacy of Dr. Sania Nishtar for the post of Director General, World Health Organization at the occasion of the World Health Assembly.

May 17, 2016: In her capacity as Chair of the Independent Accountability Panel, Dr. Sania Nishtar participated virtually in a ‘hearing style session’ at the Women Deliver conference, which was held in Copenhagen,to elicit views and recommendations from the audience on the work of the panel.Her message was read out by Carmen Barosa, also a member of the IAP.This hearing style session was aimed at sharing information on the work of the Independent Accountability Panel.

May 10, 2016: The Advisor to the Prime Minster on Foreign Affairs, H.E. Sartaj Aziz and the Minister of Health, H.E. Saira Afzal Tarar, co-hosted a reception on May 10, 2016 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan to formally announce the candidacy of Dr. Sania Nishtar for the post of Director General, World Health Organization. The event was well attended by a large number of Ambassadors from all over the world serving in Pakistan.

April 27, 2016: Food Industry Asia hosted its 6th Annual General Meeting on 27 Apr 2016, in Singapore. Dr Sania Nishtar was a key note speaker on this occasion. Her talk relayed through video conference can be accessed here.

March 1, 2016: Only three weeks after being appointed, Sania Nishtar convened the first face-to-face meeting of the Independent Accountability Panel in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 1^st and 2^nd of March.

The overarching objective of the IAP is to provide an independent and transparent review of progress on the implementation of the 2016-30 Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health (the Strategy) and to identify and advocate the necessary actions to ensure achievement of the Strategy’s goals. The IAP is a key institution in the Strategy’s Unified Accountability Framework (UAF). details about IAP will be posted on their website soon

March 21, 2016: At the 60th Annual Commission on the Status of Women, WHO, FAO and UNICEF hosted a side event to highlight why good nutrition for all, and women in particular, is essential to achieve the SDGs. By showcasing specific examples of effective nutrition interventions, the event demonstrated how societies can become healthier, smarter, more sustainable and more equal by investing in women’s nutrition. Speakers at the event included H.E. Mrs. Esther Lungu, First Lady of Zambia; permanent representatives of the mission of Brazil and Senegal in New York and officials from WHO, FAO and UNICEF. Dr. Sania Nishtar’s video message was relayed at the event which focused on “Investing in women’s nutrition for healthy, smart and more sustainable societies”.

February 16, 2016: We are pleased to announce that our President, Dr. Sania Nishtar has been selected to chair the UN Secretary-General’s  Independent Accountability Panel (IAP), which is part of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, launched in September last year to help further the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda. The strategy builds on 15 years of progress under the Millennium Development Goals and is the most influential global movement today, on women, children and adolescents’ health. Since the new framework of the SDGs now demands results and real action, “accountability” is the pulse of the any new SDGs’ linked initiative. It is here that the Independent Accountability Panel assumes great importance as it is mandated and “empowered to command attention from the global community” and to “to monitor, review and act” in the interest of women, children and adolescents’ health, globally. Other members of the IAP include Alicia Eli Yamin (Harvard University, USA) Jaime Sepulveda (Mexico), Carmen Barroso (Brazil), Pali Lehohla (South Africa), Elizabeth Mason (UK), Vinod K. Paul (India), Giorgi Pkhakadze (Ukraine), and Dakshitha Wickremarathne (Sri Lanka).

Access Here

Co-Chairs of the World Health Organization Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, Sir Peter Gluckman, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand and our President Dr. Sania Nishtar have presented the Commission’s final report to the Director General of the World Health Organization on January 25 in Geneva. Together the two of them led a two-year process, which involved face-to-face meetings with more than a hundred countries in six continents, two online consultations, hearings with non-state actors and four meetings of the Commission itself to provide a report, details of which were featured by Time, Newsweek, the Guardian and many other international news avenues in late January. The consensus on the difficult and multi-dimensional issue of childhood obesity achieved through this report and the consultative process that preceded it, now paves the way for global action to address the alarming levels of childhood obesity and overweight globally. The report can be accessed here

Every year, for the last seven years, the Green Templeton College in Oxford hosts the Emerging Markets Symposium to promote solutions to high priority problems of human welfare in emerging market countries. The symposium “brings together authoritative and influential leaders from governments, the public and private sectors and academe to address critical sectoral issues”. Previous Symposia have focused on Health and Healthcare (2009); Urbanisation, Health and Human Security (2011), Tertiary Education (2012) Gender Inequality (2013), Maternal and Child Health (2014) and Ageing (2015). The 2016 symposium held from Jan 7 to 10 focused on the Future of Young People in the Emerging Markets. Our president, Sania Nishtar attended the symposium, both in her capacity as member of the Steering Committee of the initiative as well as a participant.

The Emerging Markets Symposium at Oxford University

December 9, 2015: The World Health Organization Dialogue on Strengthening International Cooperation for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control was held in Geneva on November 30, and December 1, 2015. Our President Sania Nishtar was one of the keynote speakers at the event and spoke about the imperative of linking demand for resources (financial technical and human resources) to available supply in order to support national responses to Non-Communicable diseases, prevention and control. Further details about the meeting can be accessed here

Our President Sania Nishtar, as one of the keynote speakers at the The World Health Organization Dialogue on Strengthening International Cooperation for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control held in Geneva.

December 8, 2015: The fourth and final meeting of the World Health Organization’s Ending Childhood Obesity Commission was held in Geneva on November 30, to December 1, 2015. Our President attended the two-day meeting in her capacity as co-chair of the commission. Further details about the commission can be accessed here.

Our President, Sania Nishtar in Geneva at the fourth and final meeting of the World Health Organization’s Ending Childhood Obesity Commission

December 7, 2015: The fourth Climate and Health Summit was held on December 5, 2015, on the middle weekend of the 21st Conference of Parties negotiations in Paris. Focused on best practice sharing and emphasizing the need for investment in communities and health systems, the meeting concluded with a set of declarations.

Our President Sania Nishtar was a speaker at the concluding session of the conference and spoke about the role of public policy in shaping the post 2015 landscape.

Our President Sania Nishtar was a speaker at the concluding session of the fourth Climate and Health Summit.

November 25, 2015: The World Cancer Leaders’ Summit, an annual high level convening hosted by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) was held in Istanbul on November 18, 2015. The meeting “provides an important forum to secure a coordinated, multileveled global response to address the spiraling cancer epidemic”. UICC is a Geneva based apex body with a membership of 900 organizations across 155 countries.

Since the summit was held immediately after the UN’s pronouncement of the Sustainable Development Goals with their focus on partnerships as a key lever of delivery, its theme centered on international collaboration.

Our President, Dr. Sania Nishtar was the keynote speaker alongside the Minister of Health of Turkey at the event. Her talk focused on conflict of interest management, which she explained in an interview “is the bedrock on which partnerships need to be framed”. Her detailed views on the subject can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/NzEbQM

Dr. Sania as the keynote speaker at the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit

October 29, 2015: The Ending Childhood Obesity Commission recently held its European regional consultation in Malta on October 29 and 30. The meeting was organized by the World Health Organization EURO regional office and the Government of Malta and was attended by countries from the region. This consultation is the last in a series of regional consultations, the Commission is holding globally to seek regional perspectives on the issue. The meeting was chaired by our President, Dr. Sania Nishtar, who co-chairs the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity along with Sir Peter Gluckman, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand.