ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has one of highest number of annual child deaths in the world and more children under five die each year in the country than in the World Health Organisation’s Americas and Europe regions combined, says a new Save the Children report.
According to the report, Pakistan has made insufficient progress towards achieving its Millennium Development Goal No. 4 over the past two decades, and at its current pace, the country is projected to meet it by 2035 at the earliest.
“Over 100,000 children under five die each year in Pakistan from diarrhoea and pneumonia alone — illnesses that are completely preventable and treatable. Yet only 41 percent of children with diarrhoea, and half of those with pneumonia, receive the appropriate treatment,” the report says.
“There’s gross heterogeneity in access to care between rural and urban areas, as well as across provinces, with children in Baluchistan lagging far behind those from the rest of the country.”
The report also said that malnutrition contributed to over one-third of all under-five deaths in Pakistan, yet only 29 percent of babies were breastfed within the first hour of birth and 37 percent during first six months and consequently, almost half of all children under five were stunted.
Save the Children is working to ensure that more babies survive their first hour — “with your help we can save more lives,” the report said.
“The constitution protects the right to health for all citizens who are unable to fend for themselves, yet it doesn’t specify children’s right to health and other social services. Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, yet little tangible progress has been made to protect their rights over the last two decades.”
The report said that several national and international agencies, including Save the Children, had made concerted efforts to improve national policies on children’s rights, but progress had been halted since the devolution of social services to the provinces in 2011.
“The State of Pakistan’s Children 2012 report identifies inadequate budgetary allocation and dissolution of the Ministry of Health as the two key challenges to children’s health. With only 27 percent of the population entitled to free healthcare, millions of Pakistanis pay for even basic health services.
“Children under five are one of the most vulnerable segments of society and there’s a pressing need to prioritise their right to health and survival in national and provincial policies by ensuring universal access to free, essential healthcare,” it said.
Internews
