Health plight of communities

As 2024 almost draws to a close, it’s time to assess the year’s progress in healthcare and socio-economic development. Despite satisfactory advancements in various health sectors, the country’s inadequate efforts to protect its most vulnerable citizens – children and infants – have overshadowed these achievements. The year has also seen alarming spikes in infectious diseases like polio and HIV, despite ongoing efforts to combat them.

Authorities are expected to set new strategies and targets for the upcoming year, particularly in the health sector, where room for improvement remains open. Official reports indicate a disturbing upward trend in polio virus detection since mid-2023. As of December 24, Pakistan reported 65 new paralytic polio (WPV1) cases in the outgoing year, compared to six in 2023, with approximately 500 polio-positive environmental samples in 2024, up from 126 in 2023.

New cases have been reported primarily from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (18), Sindh (18), Balochistan (27), Punjab (1), and Islamabad (1). The country witnessed 44 polio cases in just three months since September 20, including new districts, particularly in Sindh. This surge in cases highlights the country’s failure to contain the outbreak.

These new cases, the highest in four years, are a clear manifestation of an intensified resurgence of the dreaded virus in 2024, though the local managers and international monitors, involved in the virus eradication for long in the country, claimed to have intensified the campaigns with an increase in targeted vaccinations.

Polio virus first emerged in Pakistan in 1970, with organised containment efforts launched in the 1990s. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) polio oversight board has set a revised timeline of 2025 for stopping polio transmission in Pakistan, emphasising the need for sustained efforts to address inconsistent campaign quality, unimmunised children, and cross-border collaboration with Afghanistan.

Experts stress that engaging communities and health workers is crucial to staying on track against polio.

The situation regarding HIV prevalence is equally concerning. Despite preventive and containment measures in place since the 1990s, gauging the plight of affected communities remains a daunting task due to the lack of officially disseminated data.

Regarding HIV prevalence, recent reports suggest that the country averaged 1,080 new HIV cases every month till September 2024, up from 1,060 in 2023. In Sindh, a total of 5,444 new HIV cases were reported during 2023 and 2024 (till August), with an 11-year accumulated figure of 24,891 people living with HIV. Experts warn that the virus may have exceeded the 0.1% threshold among the general population in the province.

To combat these challenges, it is essential to address the primary modes of HIV transmission, including sexual transmission, contaminated needles, and mother-to-child transmission, through a comprehensive overhaul of prevention and control mechanisms.

The challenges facing public health officials are significant, but not insurmountable. Other countries have achieved success stories in combating infectious diseases. It is crucial to prioritise the health plight of communities, making honest efforts to protect the masses, particularly the underprivileged, and enabling them to contribute to the country’s socioeconomic development.

n  Editorial/Social Track, Karachi.

 

 

 

With an uninterrupted 23-year career in daily journalism (1991-2013), the author/editor of this blog currently serves as Editor of Social Track, a weekly newspaper focused on social sectors, based in Karachi. Holding a master's degree in Mass Communications from the University of Karachi (1990), his professional experience includes roles as senior reporter at Daily Dawn, Karachi (May 2001-August 2013) and Chief Reporter at The News International, Karachi (April 1991-May 2001). He has a strong background in development journalism, he has an extensive portfolio of news stories, analytical reports and features covering a wide range of sectors. He has had the privilege of covering numerous high-profile figures, including Pakistani presidents, prime ministers, army chiefs, foreign dignitaries, and VVIPs and attending conferences and workshops abroad. He began his journalism career in the early 1980s. Throughout his career, he has received several national awards from government and private organisations. He has contributed to various radio and TV/channel broadcasts and has also served as a trainer at workshops in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, focused on training journalists.

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