Valkire's Musing:
India is polio-free: what can Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria learn? | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian
Communicable diseases: Pakistan is one of the three remaining countries with endemic polio
and the sixth highest with burden of tuberculosis. Major causes of the high neonatal, infant and
under-5 mortality rates include malnutrition, diarrhea, acute respiratory illness and other
communicable and vaccine preventable diseases. The incidence of tuberculosis is estimated at
231 cases per 100,000 per year while that of malaria cases ranges between 2 to 5 cases per 1,000.
Noncommunicable diseases: Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular problems,
diabetes, cancer and mental disorders are also on the rise, with more than 24.3% of people above
18 year being hypertensive, 25% of people over 40 years having coronary heart disease, 10% of
adults suffering from diabetes, 34% from depressive disorders (with rates in women being twice
as high as men) and 2.5% are disabled. Pakistan has a high prevalence of blindness, with nearly
1% by WHO criteria for visual impairment – mainly due to cataract. Disability from blindness
profoundly affects poverty, education and overall quality of life.
Emergency and humanitarian crises: Pakistan is a disaster prone country with frequent
natural and man-made disasters requiring massive humanitarian assistance. Pakistan has recently
suffered periodic major disasters starting from the massive earthquake of 2005 that left over
83,000 dead with severe infrastructure damage, the unprecedented floods in 2010 affecting close
to 20 million people and the 2013 floods in the southern province of Sindh affecting over 8
million people. Furthermore, growing militancy in the northern belt leading to armed conflict
and internal population displacements has created security-compromised areas making access to
healthcare problematic.
And when the history repeats itself, you will get a new capital city.
