If only we cared

Fact that robust solutions cannot translate into real change demonstrates fatal problem in our governance structure.

The recent tragedy of enormous proportions in Tharparkar has shocked many of us to the core. The immoral negligence and criminal complacency is shameful and disgraceful. In a different world and in a different time, this would have led to a series of resignations, all the way to where the buck stops. But unfortunately, that time in our society is yet to come. While we continue to blame others, look for easy scapegoats and make inhumane statements, like this is normal or happens every year, there are many deep questions we have to answer about why and how, in this day and age, in a place that is not a refugee camp, can precious little souls, en masse, just die of hunger, malnutrition and preventable diseases.



One such tough question that we should ask ourselves is associated with available solutions within our reach. I have long been advocating that we need to innovate. I have been arguing that our universities and research institutions need to be creative and come up with our own solutions for our unique challenges. While I do not believe for a second that it should change, but Tharparkar reminds me in no uncertain terms that innovation, creativity or ingenuity does little if the will to implement solutions is nowhere to be found. There is decades of sound research and countless solutions, ranging from nutritional supplements to water resource management, which are available and accessible. Some of the most impressive work on malnutrition and how to prevent infant deaths has been done by experts from Pakistan. That work may be in the textbooks of public health or the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, yet those innovative, affordable and accessible solutions mean little to those who have lost their precious little ones. There is little comfort –– for those who are affected –– in the fact that we have the capacity to mitigate and manage these challenges. The fact that robust solutions, many created and studied by public health professionals from Pakistan, cannot translate into real change demonstrates a fatal problem in our governance structure.

Innovation and implementation need to go hand in hand. The vision for a sustainable society, whether we call it vision 2014 or vision 2024, is of no real substance if the implementation arm fails to mobilise or deliver. In my own work of coming up with solutions to test substandard and/or counterfeit drugs, I am reminded every day that any solution, no matter how brilliant, is going to grace only the brightly lit and air-conditioned labs if our will or capacity to implement does not catch up with our ability to innovate. If the government refuses or fails to implement solutions, our innovators will never bring the change they hope to create.

We are stuck in a vicious cycle of ignorance, incompetence and complacency. The price of this negligence is paid disproportionately by those who are already vulnerable. Unfortunately, this cycle is also spiralling out of control. But it does not have to be so. A good point to start would be to start with a ‘never again’ attitude. Instead of just sending a cheque to those who have lost their future, let’s also send them a message of resolve that this will not happen again in any town of the country, no matter how small or large. Given our track record and certainly the attitude of those in power as of late, this may seem next to impossible. But I believe that if we look hard enough, we may find that some of the most elegant solutions to our problems are a lot closer than we think.

If only we cared.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2014.

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