Pakistan Reader

Photo Source: Pakistan Economic Survey Report 2023-2024
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CWA # 1388, 19 July 2024
Pakistan Reader
PR Review I Pakistan Economic Survey 2024 (Part-VI)| Health and Nutrition in Pakistan: Four Takeaways

  Diya Madhavan

On 11 June, Finance Minister Muhammed Aurangzeb unveiled the Pakistan Economic Survey 2023-2024, a 500-page document that provided a synopsis of the economic performance of the country in FY 2024. It was estimated by the Planning Commission that the economy underwent significant hurdles at the beginning of 2023-2024, which was predominantly due to the “lagged impacts of the economic disruptions” of the previous year. The equitable access to health and nutrition services has always been a major focus area of Pakistan, that went on a par with the international best practices as the country has been persistent in its endeavour to meet the global targets of health and wellbeing under SDGs. SDG-3 is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” and Pakistan has established its commitment by focusing on improving public health delivery system through its carefully designed need-based interventions. Chapter 11 of the Economic Survey discusses on the various sub-aspects that comes under “Health and Nutrition.” Following are four key takeaways.
 
1. A remarkable progress in promotion of healthcare infrastructure 
Pakistan saw a major rise in the health sector, including an increase in life expectancy at birth to 67.79 years in 2023 from 65.7 years in 2015, and a decrease in the prevalence of child stunting from 41.4 per cent in 2015 to 39 per cent in 2023. With a notable increase in the registered health personnel by 14.6 percent in 2023, the country had a positive graph in the number of health manpower over the years. On 10 and 11 February 2024, Pakistan hosted the Global Health Security Summit in Islamabad, marking a stride towards providing essential health care facilities. The main aim showcased through the summit was to safeguard the world against potential future health crises, through a collective action by experts, policymakers, and stakeholders on an international scale. FY24 marked successful completion of five targeted mass deworming campaigns and saw the introduction of new treatments for hepatitis, which was one of the most dangerous threats to the country. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) catered to about 80 per cent of the cancer burden through hospitals.
 
2. A fluctuated growth in food availability
In order to keep track of the adequacy of nutrition provided to the people of Pakistan, calories per capita were observed from commonly used commodities. Even though staple foods like cereal, along with meat and eggs increased in availability, other items including fruits, vegetables, pulses, milk, and edible oil reportedly saw a decline in FY24 in comparison to previous years. The availability of calories per capita per day showed a modest overall increase over the three-year period, with a slight drop that was observed in FY4. There was a wavering trend in the case of the cost of Minimum Food Basket (per capita per month) from July 2023 to March 2024, with gradual price rise from July to October, surging in November, following a slight decrease in December 2023 and February 2024, eventually peaking in March 2024.
 
3. An increase in malnourished population
The government of Pakistan consistently worked towards trying to combat malnourishment. In 2022, 34 per cent of children under the age of five failed to attain their genetic height potential, with implications that extended to departmental constraints, including cognitive deficits and future economic opportunities. Malnutrition has always been a concern in Pakistan. Even though there was an improvement in comparison to the previous years, it is still an unresolved malady in the country. According to the latest data, Pakistan is working towards meeting its breastfeeding targets, with nearly half of the infants being fed only breastmilk.
 
4. An impressive provincial performance in Health Sector
Pakistan’s provinces managed their budget utilization based on their focus areas, with respect to the primary healthcare essentialities. In Punjab, the government underwent a unique budgeting cycle for FY24, where the four-month budget period was aimed at allocating financial resources for primary and secondary education, with focus on preventive and curative health facilities. In Sindh, the government spent around PKR 234.286 billion during FY24, covering primary, secondary and tertiary health care services. Ensuring robust monitoring mechanism, strengthening of monitoring and surveillance systems, integrated MIS and upgradation of District Health Information System was initiated under the World Bank funded National Health Support Programme. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the budget allocated to the health sector in FY24 was PKR 147.9 billion, with PKR 20.3 billion development budget and PKR 127.6 as current budget. The project “Treatment of Poor Cancer Patients” is being executed at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar in order to provide life-saving anti-cancer medicines to patients of KP. In Balochistan, the government aimed at bringing about the latest healthcare facilities for the local people, through appointing 34 doctors and creating health sector reform units, established for governance and institutional reforms. The people of Balochistan witnessed a historic milestone through the launch of state Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan and health care facility by the government.

Health and Nutrition
What did the Economic Survey say in the 2022 and 2023 reports?

Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-2023
In this report, it was analyzed how the 2022 floods caused a notable disruption to the health sector facilities and as a result, how the government intervention has facilitated the restoration of the essential service delivery and critical public health functions through financial aids and humanitarian assistance, including provision of 27,090 hygiene kits, 239.4 tonne of food ration and 39.97 tonne of medicine. The rise in the registered healthcare personnel has shown a similar pattern as seen in 2023-2024 survey. There was a considerable growth in the federal and provincial health expenditure that indicated the significance of requirement of sufficient healthcare financing and optimal allocation of financial resources. In FY23, some major initiatives included the development of six standards for quality healthcare services, registration of 1388 HECs of the ICT and launch of Compliant Management System (CMS) in order to improve healthcare regulation and healthcare standards by the IHRA. The development of Universal Health Coverage-Benefit Package (UHC-BP) has helped in reflecting specific health conditions and priorities of respective provinces, with a focus on strengthening the public healthcare system to deliver quality essential health services in an equitable manner.
 
Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-2022
This report pointed out the significance of health sector development in meeting the rising demand of population, which is essential for the socio-economic development of Pakistan, through the depiction of maternal mortality rate, growth in industrial activities, improvement in undernourishment and food insecurity rate. In FY22, there was a 30 per cent increase in the health-related expenditure. FY22 was also been a period that saw a slight drop in the availability of staple food products.

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