KARACHI:
Communicable diseases have always been the prime cause of mortalities in Pakistan. The reasons for the rapid spread of these diseases include overcrowded, polluted cities. Unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, poor socioeconomic condition and low health awareness are merely some of the major issues that cities across the country face. Among the most vulnerable are children whose immune systems have severely been weakened because of malnutrition.
In 1990, a National Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) control programme was initiated in order to reduce the mortality rate concerned with pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. In the following three years, death rates among victims under the age of five had been reduced to half in Islamabad. Unfortunately, by 2006 there were 16,056,000 reported cases of ARI out of which 25.6% were children under five. Furthermore, viral hepatitis, particularly caused by types B and C, have become major epidemics in Pakistan with the country being the world’s second highest prevalence of hepatitis C, with Egypt topping the list. With the advent of the climate catastrophe, health conditions of millions of people continue to deteriorate at a rapid pace. In light of the deplorable situation, I urge the government to create a national plan for ridding the country of such diseases.
Iqra Bashir Ahmed
Turbat
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2021.
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