This is what I just read on Tribune. The report says that one child dies every minute from EPI (expanded program on immunisation diseases), diarrhea and acute respiratory infection (ARI). Moreover, 400,000 infants die in their first year, which indicates that we have a very depressing health situation in Pakistan.
One ought to give it serious attention, but I don’t think we have the resources. One among 10 children will die before reaching the age of 5 & one among 30 die immediately after they are born. This is incredibly depressing.
Pneumonia & air pollution are the 2 major factors affecting the health of children. Moreover, we don’t have proper child healthcare facilities as such in rural areas & naturally lack of such facilities makes it all the more worse. Maternal, newborn and child health care statistics in Pakistan are some of the poorest in South Asia.
Majority of children suffer from the respiratory ailments, cause they are most vulnerable thanks to their weakened malnutrition. You won’t be surprised to know that children are also suffering from hepatitis and their number is growing sharply. They also suffer from malarial diseases. Diarrhea is rampant, thanks to contaminated water in our country. It is estimated that about 20 per cent of diarrhea patients are children. Similarly, diseases like dysentery, scabies, dengue, goiter are also on the rise.
Infant mortality rate is pretty high in this country & this is quite a grim picture. Children are the future & so many don’t even survive.
