Health Policy of Pakistan

Health Policy of Pakistan: An Overview

The health policy of Pakistan has also developed gradually due to various complicated issues that the health sector of the country has encountered. Health care in Pakistan is expected to give reasonable output with the challenges such as population explosion, urbanization, infectious diseases, and many more with a population of more than 220 million. With reference to the past, present, problems and prospects of the nation’s health policy, this article examines the history, current settings, difficulties and prospectus relating to the health policy of Pakistan.

Historical Context

Early Developments

The initial framework of Pakistan’s healthcare system derived from colonialism and particularly from British system of healthcare, which campaigned principally for curative services without much importance to the public health and or preventive measures. After the independence, the healthcare system was still primitive developed only targeting the cities and neglecting the rural zones.

Evolution Through Decades

In the 1960s and 1970 s, the Government decided to decentralize growth attention to primary health strategies, autonomic essential health units (BHUs) and rural health centers (RHCs) to repair the weakliness in rural District. In the 1970s, the People’s Health Scheme which sought at offering free health services has been introduced, and nonetheless, it has been faced with problems with regard to implementation.

Subsequently, in the 1980s and 1990s, UHC translated to the provision of primary healthcare after the Alma-Ata Declaration, 1978. To address the last of the marvelous health goals, the organization put forward the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). But due to political instabilities and lack of requisite financial support the progress which could have been achieved was not made.

Health Policy Initiatives

Several health policies have been introduced over the years:

– National Health Policy 1990: highlighted the importance of preventive, Maternal & Child care but had implementation issues.

– National Health Policy 2001: Launched to decentralize the health services, go for public private partnership, intensify the first stage of health care. While mainly emphasizing the issues of equality, it was insufficient in the realization of a set of reforms.

– Reforms and India’s National Health policy 2009: Emphasized on the Universal Health care or Accessible Health care or Affordable Health care, Accountability and Responsiveness in delivery of Health care, and Health care or care efficiency. The goal was to concern the communicable diseases as well as the non-communicable diseases.

Current Health Policy Framework

them being the Vision 2025 and the National Health Vision 2016-2025.

Pakistan also has a strategic development plan known as Vision 2025, which began in 2014, and among the eleven clusters making up the plan is health. This vision is supported by the National Health Vision 2016-2025 that identifies strategic directions for the enhancement of health status.

Key priorities include:

– Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Promoting fairly priced and quality health services to all members of the society.

– Strengthening Primary Healthcare: Improving the functions of BHUs as well as RHCs.

– Maternal and Child Health: Improving services to increase the chances of the mother and child survival.

– Control of Communicable Diseases: Expanding the programs aimed at the prevention of the diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and hepatitis.

– Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs): Tackling noncommunicable diseases that are assuming a new dimension such as diabetes, hypertension as well as cardiovascular diseases.

Key Programs and Initiatives

– Sehat Sahulat Program: A social health protection measure for access to the insurance to the deprived sections for secondary and tertiary care.

– Lady Health Worker (LHW) Program: An emblematic programme of dispatching Community Health Promotion Workers, preferably females who had received some training in managing various health issues at the community level especially in hard-to-reach areas.

– Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI): deals with the prevention of vaccine preventable diseases by providing such vaccines to the young ones.

– National Program for Family Planning and Primary Health Care: Enhances use of ICPD by integrating family planning and /or reproductive health with primary health care.

Some of these difficulties can perhaps best be realized when addressing the health policy of a country, in this case Pakistan.

Funding and Resource Allocation

Another major issue perceived is the issue of funding which is a major problem. Pakistan’s current spending is less than one per cent of its Gross Domestic Product on health sector that is too meager to cope with the rising needs of the population. This underfunding results in scarce supply of medical equipment and poor health facilities, low wages for the health personnel and technological limitation.

Human Resources

Current distribution of the healthcare workforce shows that there is a severe shortage of doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals especially in rural facilities. Also, it means that there should be successive training and professional development to guarantee the qualified workforce needed to address modern requirements in the sphere of health care.

 Infrastructure

Conditions in some of the facilities surveyed are ambience; many health facilities especially in the rural areas have inadequate equipment’s, medicine, and sanitation. Urban-rural regional disparities in health infrastructure enhance the increase in the imbalances that exists in the health sector in as much as the availability of health facilities and personnel are concerned.

Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases

Thus, Pakistan serves as an example of the so-called ‘double burden of disease’, which is presage to the condition in many developing nations. Despite the pressures created by the above communicable diseases; Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and dengue fever among other diseases, there is a growing incidence of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers among others. This double load is a burden on the, already scarce, resources in the organizations.

Health Information Systems

Stable information is necessary for the formation and adoption of health care policies. Health information systems in Pakistan are weak and discontinuous, together with incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information, which hinders sound decision as well as resource dependencies.

Cultural and Social Barriers

It is a fact that exhibited culture and norms in society have influence on how people seek for help. There are cases where females cannot visit a health facility for treatment without being accompanied by a male member, thereby preventing early treatment. Also, prejudices concerning specific illnesses, such as mental disorders or HIV/AIDS, can lead to a failure of people receiving required treatment.

Political and Administrative Issues

Rotation of government and policies affects the stability of the formulated and implemented health programs. Also, poor coordination of health policies and institutional frameworks or corruption may also hinder the achievement of health policies and health related interventions.

Future Directions

Increased Investment

From the analysis, it can be suggested that the requirement for more capital in the healthcare segment remains a striking issue. It will be easier to upgrade the health facility’s physical structures, adequately supply products, and better train and compensate healthcare providers if a nation spends more than the current proportion of its GDP on health.

Strengthening Primary Healthcare

Thus, the emphasis on primary care is critical for enhancing the health conditions for the given population. Follow up of BHUs and RHCs, staffing, and equipping them appropriately and linking preventive and curative services should improve accessibility and quality of care.

Enhancing Health Information Systems

It is for this reason that the establishment of efficient and sound health information systems is very essential for efficient formulation and implementation of policies in the respective countries. Promoting digital health technologies can enhance the quality of data as well as its collection, analysis, and dissemination to enhance the decision-making process.

Addressing the Dual Burden of Disease

Hence, there is a need for multilateral approaches to management of both communicable as well as non-communicable diseases. These are such measures as immunization, enhanced surveillance of the diseases, and health promotion aimed at preventing NCDs.

Public-Private Partnerships

Thus, this creates a room for Public-Private Partnerships that can be used to improve resources and delivery of services. Working with private partners can lead to the implementation of new ideas, increased productivity, and the acquisition of funds for the healthcare system’s functioning.

Community participates and Health promotion

Decision making can also have an aspect of concern with cultural and social aspects by involving communities and the process of health promotion. Education can increase a population’s demand for prevention, timely treatment, and positive health practices to boost its health status.

Policy Continuity and Stability

The subject of this analysis reveals that stability and consistency of health policy is very important. This calls for political will irrespective of which political party is in power for the promotion of health and functionality of structures put in place to support health activities at a particular time.

Special attention should be paid to the improvement of Maternal and Child Health.

Maternal and child health care still needs enhancement. Early and effective ANC, PNC, and NC services, better nutritious practices, and immunization can go a long way in lowering the mortality rates of women and children.

Coordinate Mental Health Care

There is negligible emphasis on mental health within Pakistan’s health legislation and policy strategies. To a great extent introducing and incorporating the mental health services into primary health care, increasing public awareness and minimizing prejudice constitute strategies and policies towards tackling the mental health problems.

Addressing Urban-Rural Disparities

This is important because it can be observed that the conditions and treatment of patients in rural areas are considerably worse compared to patients from big cities. Implementing specific changes in health policies to develop the rural health care facilities, increase staff attraction and retention on rural premises, and make resource distribution across the country fair can always be effective.

https://www.emro.who.int/pak/programmes/

Conclusion

Over the years, Pakistan has attained considerable reforms in the health policy despite facing a multitude of challenges. Solving these issues is possible by applying various measures, raising financial support, and adherence to rational and consistent policy decisions. Attention to primary healthcare; strengthening of health information systems; the concept of the dual burden of disease; and building partnerships between the public and private sectors offer starting points for moving towards UHC in Pakistan and hence, better health for the country’s population.