Waleed Rabbani has been leading the way in establishing mass deworming in Pakistan and bringing the country and East-Mediterranean Region closer to controlling Soil-transmitted Helminths (STH) prevalence. He has been associated with IRD since 2016 when he undertook the 1st ever nation-wide STH prevalence survey in the capacity of Program Manager. The findings of the Survey were accepted by the government of Pakistan, based on which Pakistan Deworming Initiative was established in 2018. Since then, Waleed Rabbani has represented IRD in advocacy efforts with the Ministries and department of Health, Education and Planning & Development as well as with WHO and prominent global stakeholders, thus ensuring the deworming of more than 10 million at-risk school-age children from 2019 to 2021. In addition to being promoted to the position of Assistant Director for Pakistan Deworming Initiative in 2022, Waleed has been assigned with membership of “Technical Advisory Group on Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminths Control & Elimination” at World Health Organization. In 2019 he was awarded Honorary Shield for Extraordinary Contribution in the Pakistan Deworming Initiative by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Government of Pakistan. Waleed holds MSc. Economics degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and BSc. (Honors) Economics & Finance from Lahore School of Economics.
Current role