November 28, 2025
The GARP-Pakistan team, in collaboration with Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University and the One Health Trust, hosted an event on November 28, 2025, at the Ramada by Wyndham hotel, Islamabad, Pakistan, to launch the policy brief, “The Value of Vaccines to Mitigate Antimicrobial Resistance in Pakistan.”
The event drew strong participation from national AMR and immunization stakeholders and highlighted Pakistan’s high burden of infectious diseases and rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The policy brief emphasizes that vaccines remain a critical yet underused tool for reducing both illness and unnecessary antibiotic use. Developed by the reconvened GARP-Pakistan technical working group, the brief represents a renewed, evidence-driven effort to integrate vaccination more centrally into AMR policy and practice in Pakistan.
GARP-Pakistan Chairperson Dr. Ejaz Khan presented the brief’s findings, outlining how vaccines such as the typhoid conjugate vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, and future tuberculosis vaccines could avert millions of infections that would otherwise require antibiotic treatment. Speakers also highlighted key system challenges, including the need for stronger cold-chain infrastructure and improved vaccine management; low adult immunization coverage; a national adult vaccination policy; a digital lifelong immunization record; and the need to strengthen routine expanded programme on immunization coverage to prevent drug-resistant typhoid and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
Rishiraj Bhagawati, Simran More, and Namitha Prabhu represented the One Health Trust remotely at the event. In his remarks, Bhagawati highlighted GARP’s global shift toward positioning vaccination as a core AMR-prevention strategy, noting that Pakistan joins Uganda, Nepal, and South Africa in releasing vaccine-focused AMR policy briefs in 2025.
Stakeholders from the National Institute of Health, the World Health Organization, and other partner organizations agreed on key national priorities, including expanding public and professional education, improving diagnostics, strengthening stewardship, increasing engagement of community pharmacists, and integrating water, sanitation, and hygiene and targeted immunization efforts to support a comprehensive AMR response.
Watch the event here:
