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Jan 9, 2025 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Mirza
UNIVERSAL Health Coverage is always a work in progress. This is why ‘advancing UHC’ is better phrasing than ‘achieving UHC’.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Mirza
THE health of women in Pakistan is in jeopardy. We are talking about the health of 120.7 million citizens of the country, ie, 50 per cent of the population, according to the 2023 census. It is the largest crisis within the broader crisis of overall healthcare in the country. Women’s health suffers more than men’s health for two reasons: one, because of, unfortunately, the lower status of women in society; and two, because of their reproductive healthcare needs.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Mirza
IF health is a human right, then the inability to pay for essential healthcare should not be a barrier. This is why financial protection for healthcare is an integral component of universal health coverage (UHC). In poor countries with weak economies, inadequate healthcare systems, and lack of fiscal prioritisation of healthcare, the vast majority of people are not covered in terms of healthcare service coverage and financial protection. How, then, do people access healthcare?
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Mirza
ISCHEMIC heart disease, diabetes, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease and cirrhosis are among the top causes of death in Pakistan. Together, these are called non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as opposed to communicable or infectious diseases, which are caused by bacteria, viruses or other living organisms. These are also called chronic diseases as, once they develop, they generally remain for the rest of one’s life.
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Sep 19, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Mirza
THE state’s role in health and healthcare is as fundamental as health being a fundamental human right. The WHO, of which Pakistan has been a member since the beginning, says in its constitution: “Governments have a responsibility for the health of their peoples which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.” Governments are the stewards of the health sector.
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Aug 22, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Mirza
HEALTH needs to be understood as a holistic and normative concept. ‘Holistic’ would mean covering the physical, mental and social well-being dimensions, while ‘normative’ indicates an independent and normal state of well-being, and not just the absence of disease.
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Aug 13, 2024 | 
thenews.com.pk | Zafar Mirza
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” – Margaret Mead. On January 28, 1933, Choudhary Rahmat Ali properly used the word ‘Pakistan’ for the first time – in his pamphlet titled ‘Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?’ I have wondered how he would have titled another pamphlet if he had to write one on the eve of 77th birthday of Pakistan.
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Aug 10, 2024 | 
thenews.com.pk | Zafar Mirza
he population of [West] Pakistan at the time of independence was between 30 million and 40 million. According to the 7th Population and Housing Census in 2023, we are now more than 240 million. This is a more than seven-fold increase in 77 years. We have proliferated at a high growth rate – currently 2.5 percent, which is one of the highest in the region. This means every year around six million people are added to the population – almost equal to the entire population of Norway.
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Aug 9, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Masud |Sayem Z. Ali |Zafar Mirza
Dozens of villagers gathered in front of the modest home of Pakistan athlete Arshad Nadeem to watch the hulking javelin thrower take part in the Olympic Games final late on Thursday. The event was broadcast live by a digital projector onto a screen hanging on the back of a truck in his farming village near the small city of Mian Channu in Punjab.
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Aug 9, 2024 | 
dawn.com | Zafar Masud |Sayem Z. Ali |Zafar Mirza
GUJRAT: In a shocking incident of gender-based hate crime, a man allegedly threw his infant daughter into a canal on Thursday for not having a boy. The incident happened at village Chak Fateh Shah of Dinga Police. Rescue 1122 team launched a search for the body of the three-month-old girl in the Upper Jhelum Canal. Initial investigation said Ali Ahmed Raza Sabri was not happy after he could not have a baby boy with his wife as his daughter was born three months ago. He used to quarrel with his wife.
