Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar said on Tuesday that Pakistan Government had launched a major initiative to provide universal health coverage by reaching out to the most vulnerable segments with a comprehensive National Health Insurance Initiative – The Prime Minister’s Health Insurance Program.
Addressing health ministers of 23 countries from South Asia, North Africa, Middle East and West Asia participating in WHO Regional Committee meeting in Kuwait, Tarar said that the programme would be implemented in a phased manner to eventually cover 100 million people through public and private health care facilities.
Talking about polio eradication in the country, Tarar said that Pakistan had had its share of serious challenges in the polio eradication effort. Of these, the security situation was the most challenging.
“However, we have emerged stronger and wiser from the crisis that impeded our progress over the last two years. I am glad to report that major gains have been made this year in reaching unreached children with 82 percent reduction in polio cases,” she said.
She said that the introduction of Injectable Polio Vaccine in the Routine Immunization Programme earlier this year and switch from trivalent polio vaccine to bivalent polio vaccine would give a boost to polio eradication efforts.
Talking about initiatives for disease prevention and control, she said, “Recently, we were able to reach an agreement for CDC and DFID support for establishing a world class public health laboratories network and disease surveillance system in Pakistan. This we believe will be a major boost to our disease prevention and control efforts.”
She said that Pakistan would be looking to work with WHO, partners and regional countries to strengthen disease surveillance and response mechanisms.
