Dr Rana Safdar

Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar has an illustrious career in healthcare service delivery spanned over a period of 3 decades. Having a medical degree and postgraduate qualifications in areas of Public Health from Armed Forces Postgraduate Medical Institute (AFPGMI) Rawalpindi, Dr Safdar earned fellowships in areas of Field Epidemiology and afterwards Emerging Infectious Disease Epidemiology from University of Iowa, USA and Health Metrics & Evaluation from University of Washington, USA as well as the Faculty of Public Health (FFPH) UK.

Dr Safdar’s working with Pakistan’s health system includes a postgraduate professional experience of a quarter century wherein he remained actively engaged in disease prevention and control interventions at different levels. During the time, he made extensive contributions to the national health system starting as a Medical Officer in Basic Health Unit to the top national assignment of the Director General Health - Pakistan. Besides serving all national priority disease control programmes in Pakistan including EPI, Polio Eradication, Prevention & Control of Viral Hepatitis as well as HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria, he also served in International Organizations such as UNAIDS & US CDC, on deputation basis, after selection through competitive processes. His principal assignment at present is Chief of Field Epidemiology & Disease Surveillance Division at NIH Pakistan.

He also served as the National Focal Point for IHR and authored concept and national plan for Integrated Disease Surveillance & Response System for Pakistan. After massive Polio outbreaks of 2014, Dr. Safdar was tasked to serve as the National Coordinator of Pakistan’s Polio eradication initiative. He transformed the program immediately by conceptualizing and operationalizing a national Network of Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) that provided a joint operations, security and communication platform to all Government stakeholders as well as international partners, with completed clarity of command and control by the Government. Security Forces were formally engaged in support of the program operations and country made remarkable achievements during 2015-2018 bringing cases to single digit through the successful implementation of ‘One Team’ approach that was globally acknowledged as a role model for public health service delivery.

Following political change and resurgence of Polio in 2019, he was brought back to lead the country out of crisis. This time he was simultaneously assigned the leadership of both the EPI and PEI programs. This unified leadership helped Pakistan in synergized planning and alignment of efforts and resources. Accordingly, despite challenges posed by COVID pandemic, huge gains were made in strengthening of immunization system across Pakistan, high quality SIAs as well as Enhanced Outreach for essential immunization. This helped in building a strong immunity wall against Polio and other vaccine preventable diseases such as Measles, Diphtheria, Tetanus etc. Efforts led to a smooth high transmission season of 2021 bringing country closest to virus interruption. Dr. Safdar was subsequently moved as DG Health in March 2021.

As COVID-19 struck Pakistan, as the Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre and National Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunization, Dr. Safdar also led the process of development and implementation of national COVID-19 surveillance and response system encompassing issuance of daily situation reports and conducting risk assessments that formed basis of all critical decision making at the National Command Operations Center, National Immunization Management System, National Health Helpline 1122 etc. He also led negotiations with GAVI enabling Pakistan to benefit from donation of almost 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from COVAX