LET me first clarify that while the title of this article might give the impression that we are educating and training our medical students about quality Primary Health Care (qPHC), we are not.
Recently though, some important policy developments have taken place, which are paving the way for sustainable education and training in qPHC in Pakistan. But before that, let us frame the problem.
In my article ‘Dubious distinctions’, published on these pages on Jan 13, 2023, I provided some startling figures that indicate the depth of the public health crisis in Pakistan. To summarise: 149 countries have a higher life expectancy than us; we have a very high population growth rate; we have the world’s second highest neonatal mortality rate; 40 per cent of our children are physically and mentally stunted; 43pc of women have iron deficiency anaemia; we have a high maternal mortality rate; we have failed to eradicate polio (in fact, cases are going up again); 23.5pc of the children are not immunised; we have one of the world’s highest prevalence rates of Hepatitis C, the fifth highest burden of TB, and the second highest rate of increase in the number of HIV cases in Asia; every fourth woman suffers from perinatal depression; every fourth adult above 20 years suffers from Type II diabetes; every third adult above 45 years has elevated blood pressure.
The list of tragedies is long and heartbreaking. Why? Because the state and successive governments have not prioritised the health of the people. The irony is that all of the above and many other........