The number of patients being vaccinated in Pakistan’s rural Punjab region has risen, with the overall number of patients needing healthcare in the most remote areas dramatically falling, two years since the Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund for Children and UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s relief agency, intervened to help restore trust in vaccinations. 

Muhammad Jaohar Khan, a doctor and health specialist for UNICEF Pakistan, says the positive outcomes mean future projects can be launched in other remote areas in the near future.

‘Children under five years old are highly susceptible to diseases and infections. Through this project, we ensured children as well as women in remote districts of Pakistan get access to quality healthcare and improve their knowledge about immunisation and maternal and child health,’ he says.

Challenges remain, however, with frequent power cuts common across Pakistan, especially during the high summer.

Under the health programme, vaccines are held in cold storage unit in Kasur, east Pakistan bordering India, and four other districts of Pakistan using solar energy.

According to UNICEF, Punjab has historically high vaccination refusals. The lack of basic medicines, such as paracetamol, compounded the issue.

The Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund for Children is a joint initiative established by UNICEF and the Islamic Development Bank Group. The GMFC says its funding comes from Islamic philanthropy principles of zakat and sadaqah, two forms of Islamic giving prescribed by the faith.

Funding is in response to the child-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with initiatives in south Asia also including humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.

Shafi Musaddique is the news editor at Alliance Magazine