EDITORIAL: It’s great news on the public health front. Pakistan has become the 19th country in the world to eliminate trachoma, a disease of the eye caused by bacterial infection which, if left untreated, can lead to visual impairment or irreversible blindness.
To mark this significant success a special event was recently held in Islamabad where the Country Representative of the World Health Organisation, Dr Luo Dapeng, presented the Trachoma-free Pakistan certificate to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also highlighting the value of the world health body’s technical support and contributions of civil society groups and international partners such as Sightsavers, Fred Hollows Foundation, and Christian Blind Mission for the elimination of this preventable affliction.
In attendance, among other high profile dignitaries, was the Director General of WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, who termed it a “monumental achievement for the country and for the global fight against the disease” while Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Hanan Balkhy, congratulated Pakistan for having eliminated two neglected tropical diseases: trachoma and back in 1997 guinea-worm disease.
Speaking on the occasion, PM Sharif asserted, “together with our partners we not only celebrate this achievement but reaffirm our unwavering commitment to effectively control and eliminate diseases impeding our socio-economic development by placing quality healthcare within the reach of everyone in this country.”
Nice words these, but so far public health has received least priority in successive governments’, including the present one’s, schemes of things. During the fiscal year 2022-23, the total public health expenditure was a mere 1.0 percent of the GDP, whereas a UN communiqué and various studies, based on health service costs and modelling techniques, suggest allocation of a minimum 5 percent of the GDP to the sector.
For a middle income country like Pakistan with a struggling economy at this point in time that may be a bit too high a target. But even in better times, public healthcare has never been a matter of prime concern to our policymakers. In his speech the PM also vowed to eradicate other contagious diseases like polio and hepatitis.
The same day, Sindh reported two new cases of polio, bringing the tally of cases across the country this year to 26. That, though, does not mean lack of effort to banish this debilitating disease affecting children. Poliovirus persists despite regular vaccination campaigns because of resistance from violent extremists.
Claiming it to be a Western ploy to reduce Muslim population by sterilising children through polio drops, they have killed several health workers and their police escorts. Some misguided parents also refuse vaccination. Polio Eradication Programme continues to do its job.
Meanwhile, different strains of viral hepatitis remain a serious health hazard, mainly because of poor sanitary and hygienic conditions, contaminated water and food. As a result, hepatitis A has reached epidemic proportions. Increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality is hepatitis C, spread through used syringes, untested blood transfusions as well as sexual intimacy. People can and must be saved from this life-threatening suffering, also decreasing the burden on already insufficient health facilities, i.e., if the relevant authorities pay attention to addressing its causes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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