Alarming health indicators expose systemic gaps: PMA

On World Health Day, the association flags underinvestment, inequities in Pakistan’s healthcare system

IV Report

KARACHI: Marking World Health Day on Tuesday (April 7), the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warned that Pakistan’s health indicators remain well below even the minimum benchmarks for developing countries, urging an urgent, science-led overhaul of public health policy and spending priorities.

In a statement aligned with the World Health Organisation (WHO) theme “Together for Health: Stand with Science,” Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, PMA secretary general, said the country was entering the global observance amid a “deepening, multi-layered health crisis” driven by chronic underinvestment, weak governance and widening inequities in access to care. He regretted that public health needs continued to be overshadowed by non-essential expenditures, leaving critical infrastructure and services underfunded.

Citing data from the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF, the PMA highlighted a series of alarming indicators to illustrate the scale of the crisis. Pakistan, it noted, now carries one of the world’s heaviest diabetes burdens, affecting an estimated 34.5 million adults, with severe complications including thousands of amputations each year. Cardiovascular diseases account for roughly a quarter of all deaths, exacerbated by high tobacco use and limited cardiac care facilities, particularly in rural areas.

Maternal and child health outcomes also remain dire, with hundreds of preventable deaths reported daily. Pakistan continues to be among the last countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic, while the burden of hepatitis C and tuberculosis remains among the highest globally and regionally. The PMA further pointed to a sharp rise in HIV-related deaths, including increasing paediatric cases, alongside persistently high levels of child stunting and mortality linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation.

The situation is compounded by systemic challenges, including low public health spending — effectively under one per cent of GDP — and a growing “brain drain” of medical professionals. Dr Shoro noted that thousands of doctors left the country in 2025 alone, further straining an already fragile healthcare system. He also warned that climate-related risks, particularly intensifying heatwaves, are beginning to affect reproductive health outcomes.

Calling for immediate corrective measures, the PMA urged the government to raise health spending to at least five per cent of GDP with strict accountability mechanisms, expand primary and preventive care services, strengthen immunisation programmes, and implement safe water and sanitation standards.

“Unless policy decisions are guided by scientific evidence and public health priorities, Pakistan risks falling further behind in its commitment to universal health coverage,” Dr Shoro said, calling on federal and provincial authorities to act decisively to safeguard the population’s health.

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