Overview
- The prime minister met a Gates Foundation delegation that included Kalpana Kochhar and Anita Zaidi and praised the foundation’s multi‑sector role in health, nutrition and welfare.
- The government said it remains committed to fully eliminating polio and is preparing a nationwide campaign this month to reach more than 31 million children across 115 districts.
- Health officials have already run three nationwide campaigns in 2026 that reached about 45 million children and the country has reported three polio cases so far this year.
- Shehbaz framed a cashless economy as a core reform, credited joint work with the Gates Foundation for rising digital payments, and sought focused collaboration on women’s financial inclusion.
- Linking vaccination drives to digital payments aims to improve transparency and direct delivery of support for women and frontline workers, and could speed payments to vaccinators and target aid more precisely.