Federal Minister Launches Pakistan’s National Wastewater Environmental Surveillance Strategy and Genomics Dashboard

Islamabad: Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Syed Mustafa Kamal, officially launched Pakistan’s Wastewater Environmental Surveillance (WES) Strategy and the National WES Genomics Dashboard at a ceremony organized by the National Institute of Health (NIH), marking a significant milestone in strengthening Pakistan’s public health surveillance system.

The ceremony was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, the National Institute of Health, provincial health departments, Water and Sanitation Agencies, municipal authorities, academia, development partners, the Aga Khan University (AKU), and the Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness, Singapore.

Addressing the gathering, the Federal Minister reaffirmed the Government of Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening public health surveillance systems and described wastewater environmental surveillance as a strategic investment for enhancing early warning, outbreak detection, and evidence-based public health decision-making. He emphasized the importance of strengthening wastewater treatment systems and called for continued collaboration among government, academia, and international partners to expand and sustain the national WES programme.

Dr Muhammad Salman, Chief Executive Officer, NIH, highlighted that the launch of Pakistan’s Wastewater Environmental Surveillance (WES) System marks a significant milestone in strengthening the country’s public health surveillance and outbreak preparedness. He stated that the WES platform will enable early detection of priority pathogens, support evidence-based decision-making, and enhance Pakistan’s capacity to prevent and respond to emerging public health threats through a coordinated One Health approach.

Wastewater surveillance enables public health authorities to detect pathogens circulating in communities before many infected individuals develop symptoms or seek health care. Building on Pakistan’s successful environmental surveillance programme for poliovirus, the National WES Strategy expands this approach to support surveillance of multiple infectious diseases of public health importance. The launch also marked the inauguration of the National WES Dashboard, hosted by NIH, which integrates surveillance and laboratory data for real-time monitoring, geographic mapping, trend analysis, and outbreak preparedness.

The Pakistan WES Strategy has been developed through a consultative process led by NIH in collaboration with AKU and the Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness, Singapore, with contributions from federal ministries, provincial departments, technical experts, and public health stakeholders. It provides a coordinated national framework for wastewater environmental surveillance, strengthening laboratory and genomic surveillance, standardized protocols, and national stakeholder coordination.

Dr Vincent Pang from the Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness said, Wastewater and environmental surveillance is most powerful when it connects science with public health action. A sustainable National Wastewater Environmental Surveillance (WES) programme depends on strong partnerships across sectors, including with immunization authorities, so that surveillance data can help reduce the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. At Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, our Centre for Outbreak Preparedness is privileged to support Pakistan’s efforts to develop a National WES strategy that can guide timely, evidence-based public health decisions.

Dr Afreenish Amir of NIH highlighted that pilot implementation across 14 sites in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Karachi has demonstrated the value of wastewater surveillance as an early warning tool. She added that with continued support and collaboration, the system can be expanded nationwide to support outbreak detection, monitoring of emerging pathogens, and timely public health actions, including targeted vaccination strategies and other preventive interventions.