September 8, 2010: The consortium of Asian think-tanks on Non-Traditional Security Studies, coordinated by the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore has published a commentary on the floods in Pakistan, authored by Sania Nishtar.

September 4, 2010: a viewpoint on the attributes of governance and their interplay in disasters has been published in the News International today. This comment flags five governance lessons, evidenced by the response to the recent catastrophic floods in Pakistan.

August 20, 2010: Dr Sania Nishtar participated in a leadership level meeting at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy on August 17-20. The meeting was organized by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and focused on the interaction between health systems and HIV.

August 17, 2010:  The Child Protection and Welfare Ordinance 2010 is due to be presented to the Assembly. This comment is aimed at reviewing the extent to which the law is an improvement on previous legislative enactments from a child rights perspective.

July 24, 2010: The United States has pledged support to alleviate poverty and improve development outcomes in Pakistan. The comment explores the extent to which such expectations are justified and the prerequisites for leveraging the potential within development assistance.

July 10, 2010: The comment frames population as the denominator of development. It focuses on the potential within the forthcoming Population Policy 2010 to impact outcomes in view of institutional changes introduced by the 18th Constitutional Amendment and the Finance Commission Award.

July 3, 2010: The comment explores the potential within the macroeconomic strategies pursued through the Finance Bill 2010/11 - just passed by the parliament - to accrue benefits to the common man.  Full text is accessible at http://www.heartfile.org/viewpoints.htm

The Study Group on Health Governance is part of the larger initiative on Global Governance by the school. Sania Nishtar, President Heartfile attended the meeting as a special invited guest on June 28-29, 2010.

The government is launching a new health insurance scheme for the poor under the rubric of the federal government’s safety net program. The comment argues that if the priority is to financially risk protect the poor for health in the most cost effective manner, then the government must rethink its current approach. Full text is accessible at http://www.heartfile.org/viewpoints.htm

The comment underscores a critical point—health reform has been forced on the Pakistani health system because of changes made outside of it. It outlines how existing opportunities can be capitalized and how the forthcoming budget can be used as an entry point to make fundamental changes as a starting point. Full text is accessible at http://www.heartfile.org/viewpoints.htm

Sania Nishtar gives the keynote address at the ‘Regional Conference on Achieving better health equity and efficiency in Middle East and North Africa,’ organized by the MENA Health Policy Forum in Amman, Jordan, on June 7, 2010