Despite a modest increase, the health sector's share in the overall social sector development budget stands at 2.2 per cent of the total social sector allocation for the current fiscal year. Yet, Pakistan's health outcomes continue to underperform against regional benchmarks.

Life expectancy in the country hovers just over 67 years, nearly five years below the South Asian average, maternal and child mortality rates remain considerably higher than those of several neighbouring countries. Such outcomes are not surprising given decades of underinvestment, weak governance and poor policy choices, which have left the public health system ill-equipped to serve a growing population, the majority of which cannot afford private healthcare.

Pakistan still spends less than 3 per cent of GDP on healthcare, far below the global average of 6.74 percent based on data from 185 countries. Against this backdrop, Official Development Assistance (ODA) has become far more important to........

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