Bleak indicators: MDG targets for 2015 likely to go unrealised

Literacy rate remains unchanged at 58% between 2010-2011 and 2011-2012; health, water sectors fare no better.

ISLAMABAD:

The literacy rate in Pakistan remained stagnant at 58% during the second last year of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government, while the proportion of the population having access to water and immunisation coverage among children dropped.

The results of the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey 2011-2012 have highlighted that access to basic needs like education, health, water supply and sanitation declined from the previous survey year of 2010-2011, underlining the falling living standards of people.



The findings of the survey, conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, also reinforces a long-held view that the country will miss the health, education, water supply and sanitation targets set under the Millennium Development Goals for 2015.

The PSLM is one of the main mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy and the MDGs.

The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) of children aged five to nine for primary schools slipped to 91% in 2011-2012 from 92% in 2010-2011. The Net Enrolment Rate (NER) remained at 57% in 2011-2012, substantially lower than the GER because of the enrolment of overage children in primary schools.



The overall literacy rate remained still at 58% in 2011-2012, much lower than the MDG target of 88% for 2015. The rate remained fixed at 60% in Punjab, but showed an increase in the other three provinces.

The proportion of the population having access to sustainable water also decreased from 60% in the last survey to 59%. The MDG 2015 target is 93%, which is likely to be missed. Access to piped water also decreased to 29% from a third, while the reliance on water accessible via hand pump increased to 30% from 28%.

However, all was not doom and gloom in the report.

The proportion of the population with access to sanitation increased to 72% from 66%, but far below than the desired level of 90%, according to PSLM. Two-thirds of households had access to functional toilets, but 18% of houses did not have toilets.

Health indicators revealed mixed performance.

The proportion of fully immunised children in the age group of 12-23 months decreased to 80% from 81%. The immunisation coverage dropped significantly in Balochistan and Sindh, increased in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and remained stagnant in Punjab.

The measles immunisation campaign among children up to one-year-old also dropped to 81% from 82%.

The total fertility rate in the country decreased to 3.9 from the 2007-2008 level of 4.2. The results for 2010-2011 were not available. Similarly, the number of children born dropped to 2.1 from the 2008 level of 2.3.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2013.