PTI’s Sania Nishtar resigns as senator

Published October 31, 2024 Updated October 31, 2024 10:23am

ISLAMABAD: Former special assistant to the prime minister on poverty alleviation and social safety Dr Sania Nishtar has resigned as a senator, sources in the Senate secretariat confirmed.

The sources said Dr Nishtar submitted her resignation after joining a Geneva-based international organisation.

She served as a special assistant to the PM from May 2019 to April 2022, enjoying the status of a federal minister.

During the time, she also remained chairperson of Ehsaas programme, the flagship social safety net and poverty alleviation programme launched by the PTI government.

She was elected to Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 2021 Senate elections.

Dr Nishtar is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Gavi, a vaccine alliance. She is an internationally acclaimed public health and development expert having a degree in medicine.

A recipient of Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Global Innovation Award, Dr Nishtar is known for her work in public healthcare.

Dr Nishtar co-chaired WHO’s high-level comm­ission on non-communicable diseases along with the presidents of Uruguay, Finland and Sri Lanka.

She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the future of healthcare and co-chairs the US National Academy of Sciences global study on the quality of healthcare in low- and middle-income countries.

She also chairs the United Nations Intern­ational Institute for Global Health’s International Advisory Board.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Property valuation
Updated 31 Oct, 2024

Property valuation

Market valuation rates will not help boost tax revenues without plugging such loopholes in the system.
Hitting a wall
31 Oct, 2024

Hitting a wall

PAKISTAN still has a long way to go in defeating polio. Despite our decades-long fight against the debilitating...
Kurram violence
31 Oct, 2024

Kurram violence

DESPITE years of intermittent and bloody conflict in Kurram, the state has been unable to bring lasting peace to ...
Court business
Updated 30 Oct, 2024

Court business

The unity and commonality of purpose on display in the full court meeting are what will help the SC endure.
UNRWA ban
30 Oct, 2024

UNRWA ban

NOT content with the war of extermination it is executing against the Palestinian people, Israel now wants to ensure...
Cricket changes
30 Oct, 2024

Cricket changes

WIN or lose, Pakistan cricket seems to be embroiled in a constant state of flux. Just when things seemed to be...