The Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) is part of the world wide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), which are conducted in over 90 countries since the past thirty years. The DHS is undertaken with the objective to provide reliable estimates of fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, nutritional status, women empowerment, domestic violence […]
Innovative approaches are call of the hour for sustainable development
Today, as I write this article, it shocks me that Pakistan is only left with 1.53 years to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Government of Pakistan has adopted 16 targets and 41 indicators. Time series data is available for only 34 indicators and it reveals that Pakistan is on track to achieve the targets on 11 indicators, […]
What Does It Take to Achieve Universal Health Coverage?
In a health clinic outside Nairobi, Kenya, Janet* waits to see a doctor. Janet is a 32-year-old widow and mother of four from Kibera, a neighborhood of Nairobi. Her 11-year-old daughter, Jane*, isn’t feeling well. Both mother and daughter are HIV-positive. Janet and Jane are lucky to live walking distance to the Langata Health Center, […]
Is Universal Health Coverage the magic wand that will make it all happen?
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) seems to be the goose that lays the golden egg in the current global health discussions within the new post-2015 development framework process. But will it really deliver what it promises? Or is it rather a fairytale that sounds perfect in theory but will never become a reality? Universal Health Coverage […]
AIDS Today: The Facts, Figures, and Trajectory of a Global Illness
AIDS TODAY: The facts, figures, and trajectory of a global illness. Over much of the last 30 years AIDS contraction has accelerated. But it’s finally stabilized. CURRENT HOTSPOTS: North America: 1.1 million living with HIV/AIDS (.6% of adult population) 65,000 new infections yearly 20,000 AIDS related deaths yearly South America: 2 million living with HIV/AIDS […]
Spatial Relationships: Does Global Health Aid Go Where It’s Needed?
This is a joint post with Yuna Sakuma. Funding for health in any country doesn’t always go where it’s needed most. But this is particularly true where donors and national governments have to decide how to distribute scarce resources within a country and coordinate their efforts. Often, governments don’t know where donors are spending their health funds, and […]
HIV/AIDS : Worth the fight
The imperatives for building awareness about AIDS stems from the very pandemic nature of the disease. This year’s theme for the World AIDS Day was “Shared responsibility: Strengthening results for an AIDS free generation”, marking the campaign’s 26th year anniversary. Since 1988 to date, there has been massive progress in the eradication of the once […]
The challenges of NCD prevention universally
In September 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a Resolution adopting the Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease (NCDs). The Declaration was indeed a historic landmark in public health for several reasons. First, it was only the second meeting at the […]