ISLAMABAD: Malaria is the second most prevalent and devastating disease of Pakistan, as approximately 60 percent of the population living in some areas where the disease is endemic, official sources said yesterday.
The number of confirmed malaria cases reported in Pakistan during the last five years is higher than in previous years and it was mainly because of the low coverage of effective interventions to control the disease and vector surveillance.
Around 1.6 million cases, including 300,000 confirmed cases at public sector healthcare facilities, are reported in Pakistan every year. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Pakistan is among seven countries with high malaria transmission, according to Head of Community Medicine at CMH Lahore Medical College Professor Dr Ashraf Chaudhry.
New infections on the rise
ISLAMABAD: As 90 percent of people living with infections belong to up to twelve major cities across Pakistan, the country must develop strong city-based health programmed in order to achieve the 6th Millennium Development Goal, according to JVR Prasada Rao, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia and Pacific.
Rao said that at least 2 to 3 percent of Pakistan’s GDP needed to be allocated to the health sector in order to improve current social indicators; at the moment, 0.9 percent of Pakistan’s GDP is allocated to the health sector.
In an interview yesterday Rao said that Pakistan is the fourth largest country in the region affected by transmittable diseases, it was of significance for the United Nations from a global perspective.
Nawaz and US envoy hold talks
Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met yesterday with James Dobbins, US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, who is currently on a visit to Islamabad.
The two sides discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, official Pakistani sources said.
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