October 31, 2009: A viewpoint titled ‘Merging ministries’ by Sania Nishtar has been published in The News International. Full text is accessible at Viewpoints
Context: The IMF has stipulated that in order to curtail the fiscal deficit, establishment costs should be reduced and therefore 13 existing ministries should be merged with others. Ministries of health and population are two of these. Merger of these ministries is also a subject of great controversy within the context of the current health-population disconnect and its implications for reproductive health outcomes. This comment analyzes this subject