Burden of Disease

Syed Babar Ali

Session Objectives
• Discuss Disease burden of Pakistan and other issues in detail.
Disease Burden in Pakistan
• Pakistan is a developing country with limited resources and facing
enormous challenges across all areas of human development including
double burden of diseases.
• In the area of human health, health indicators have gradually improved
over the years including life expectancy beyond 65 years; but it fails to
reflect the need for more robust responses to challenges healthcare
delivery faces in the country.
• A country's development and progress is dependent on health of its
population.
• A growing disease burden is not only compromising country's progress but
it is also causing huge burden on limited available resources.
Disease Burden in Pakistan
• Pakistan is faced with a huge quadruple disease burden.
• Infectious diseases are rampant and diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria,
among others, are a major public health challenge for all stakeholders,
including policymakers and healthcare providers.
• Noncommunicable diseases are increasing rapidly due to unhealthy lifestyle,
rapid urbanization, and breakup of the traditional joint-family system that puts
additional pressure on individuals.
• Diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and malignancies are on the
rise.
• Mental health is compromised and mental diseases are on the rise.
• With the rapid advances in transportation, road traffic accidents are
contributing substantially to overall disease burden.
• Mother and child morbidity and mortality are challenging resource constraint
healthcare delivery in the country
Top 10 Causes of Death
1.Ischemic Heart Disease 8%
2.Cancer 8%
3.Lower-Respiratory Infections 8%
4.Stroke 6%
5.Diarrheal Diseases 6%
6.Neonatal Encephalopathy 5%
7.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 5%
8.TB 5%
9.Pre-Term Birth Complications 4%
10.Diabetes 3%
SDG’s
PAKISTAN’S CHALLENGES: SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2015-2030

1. No Poverty
The first sustainable development goal aims to “end poverty in all its
forms” by 2030. Since the government has signed up to SDG 1, they can
be asked to adopt the equivalent of US$1.25 per person a day as an
official poverty line. The SDGs can also be used to push for a quick
consensus on ways of measuring “poverty in all its dimensions
according to national definitions”.
2. Zero Hunger
• By 2030, Pakistan is supposed to “end hunger and ensure access for all, especially
for the poor and vulnerable, to nutritious and sufficient food the year round.”
• By signing on the SDGs, the government has committed to ending all forms of
malnutrition.
• However, independent of these commitments, if the country wants to achieve
high growth rates and sustain the latter to ensure development, hunger and food
insecurity need to end.
• The tragedy is that it is not the case that Pakistan is not producing enough food.
• It can easily afford to provide adequate nutrition for all citizens.
• It is a question about asymmetric income and wealth distribution which, in turn,
results in iniquitous access to food.
3. Good Health and Well-being
• With Goal 3 – promoting good health and well-being – calling for an
integrated approach crucial for progress across multiple goals,
including alleviating poverty and hunger, the focus includes a
commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and
other communicable diseases by 2030.
• It also aims to achieve universal health coverage, and provide access
to safe and effective medicines and vaccines for all.
4. Quality Education
• Goal 4 prioritizes equitable quality education and promoting lifelong
learning opportunities for all.
• This goal has seven targets and three means for implementation,
covering all levels of education; from early childhood, primary to
secondary, technical vocational for decent jobs, and university
through formal, non-formal and technology enabled channels,
conducive learning environments, adequacy of trained teachers and
opportunities for scholarships to pursue continuous learning.
5. Gender Equality
• The Gender Gap Index 2015 ranked Pakistan 2nd from the bottom
among 145 countries.
• Goal 5 aims to address gender equality and women empowerment.
Poverty, poor health and illiteracy make almost 50pc of the country’s
population who are not full participants in the realm of socio-
economic development.
• The low status of women, in fact, deprives the state of realising the
full productive potential of half the population.
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
• Goal 6 of the development agenda talks about ensuring availability
and sustainable management of water and sanitation; eight specific
targets have been formulated to achieve universal and equitable
access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene
for all, to end open defecation with special attention given to the
needs of women and girls.
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
• For affordable clean energy, Pakistan requires more transmission
lines, cost-effective production, better-regulated renewable energy
markets.
8. Decent Work and Economic
Growth
• Goal 8 empowers governments to break free from the shackles of aid
and propels nation-states towards making greater strides in trade,
growth, jobs and safeguarding the dignity of individuals, communities
and nations.
9. Industry, Innovation and
Infrastructure
• Goal 9 aims to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and
sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation”.
• This goal recognises firstly, that sustainable human development
improvements cannot come without economic growth, particularly in
manufacturing.
10. Reduced Inequalities
• Goal 10 focusing on reducing inequalities by 2030 underscores the
need for policies ‘to achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom
40pc of the population at a rate higher than the national average’
among other targets — all focused on inclusive economic growth. For
the country as a whole, 48pc of rural households are landless
11. Sustainable Cities and
Communities
• Goal 11 – sustainable, green and resilient cities – forms the defining
constructs of an emerging urban planning paradigm that is fast
gaining global traction.
• Here, strategic plans are replacing master plans.
12. Responsible Consumption
and Production
• Goal 12 calls for ensuring sustainable consumption and production,
reaffirming global consensus on the centrality of sustainable practices
in the quest for sustainable development.
• The targets linked to Goal 12 include sharp cuts in food losses and
waste; environmentally sound management of chemicals; sustainable
public sector procurement; enhancing knowledge and awareness
about the benefits of sustainable practices and lifestyle;
rationalisation of fossil fuels subsidies; and strengthening the
scientific and technological capacity of developing countries to
embrace SCP.
13. Climate Action
• Goal 13 specifically calls for ‘urgent actions to combat climate change
and its impacts’. About 45 of the 169 targets related to this goal
highlight the need to tackle climate change and avert impacts,
particularly on food, water, energy and economic development.
• The challenges of climate change and its adverse impact undermine
the ability to achieve Vision 2025 — Pakistan’s development
blueprint. Adverse climate impacts are reflected through increased
floods, prolonged droughts, changing temperatures and extreme
weather events — heat-waves, glacial melting, changing monsoons
and cropping cycles.
14. Life Below Water
• Goal 14, aimed at the Integration of Oceans into the SDG framework,
calls for commitment to ensuring the sustainability of oceans and
marine life with special attention to the welfare of populations
dependent on ocean life.
15. Life on Land
• Goal 15 focuses on protecting, restoring and promoting the
sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managed
forests, combating desertification, and halting and reversing land
degradation and biodiversity loss.
16. Peace, justice and strong
institutions
• Goal 16 aims to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for
sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build
effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”
17. Partnerships for the Goals
• Goal 17 that aims to revitalise global partnerships for development by
building domestic means to implement the SDGs.
• Global partnerships must have varied elements: more development
assistance, debt relief, trade agreements that help developing
countries find markets and better conditions for foreign and domestic
investment.
• Partnerships matter when lifting people out of poverty, when
protecting the environment and when building peace — partnerships
between governments, the private sector, civil society and the
international community.