The World Health Organization (WHO), the Government of Pakistan and 20 prominent business leaders launched the first WHO Council for Partnership with the Public and Private Sectors. The Council aims to improve public health, strengthen national health systems, and accelerate progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global health commitments.

The Council was launched in Karachi during a ceremony led by WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Hanan Balkhy, the Chair of the new WHO Pakistan Public-Private Council, Aziz Memon, Pakistan’s Federal Secretary for Health and Co-Chair of the Council, Muhammad Aslam Ghauri, WHO Representative in Pakistan Dr Luo Dapeng, and 20 founding members from the business sector and academia.

“The Council brings business and philanthropic leaders together to build a healthier and more prosperous future for Pakistan and for the Region. Working as partners will allow WHO and the Council to amplify our collective advocacy to move health higher up the national agenda; consolidate our strengths in financing, technology, logistics, infrastructure, networks and expertise; and build a durable, long-term partnership that promotes a healthier future for everyone, no matter where they live or who they are,” said Dr Balkhy.

Aziz Memon – Chair of the Council representing the business sector – underlined that the initiative will bring business leaders and WHO together to build a more prosperous Pakistan. “This Council is the place where Pakistan's prosperity and Pakistan's health finally sit at the same table and where business leadership can take its rightful place to promote the health of its own people, with the World Health Organization as our trusted partner. This Council is a way for that generosity to move forward together, with structure, with safeguards, and with the reach of the World Health Organization behind it, so that what each of us does alone becomes unstoppable when we do it together.”