The indicators
relating to health continue to reflect poor health status for
the majority of approximately 154 million population of Pakistan.
Life expectancy stands at 64 years with a high infant mortality
rate of 82/1000 live births while maternal mortality rate ranges
between 350-400/100,000 live births.Women in reproductive age
constitute 24 % of total population and the sex ratio in Pakistan
is adverse to women 108:100. Population growth rate is 1.9%
annual with total fertility rate of 4.00. Pakistan thus lags
behind its neighbors and other low-income countries in terms
of health and population outcomes.
People living in large pockets of hard to reach and difficult
areas in the country are especially vulnerable as existing
health services are mainly concentrated in urban areas where
less than one third of Pakistan’s population lives and
the rural health facilities which are inadequate in numbers
are often poorly staffed and under equipped. The major reasons
for high maternal mortality is poor access to prenatal care
and dearth of trained attendants at birth (80% babies are
delivered at home without trained birth attendant). 5-6 women
die every hour during childbirth due to preventable causes.
The above situation is exacerbated in the conflict prone
areas adjoining the 2500 km western border with Afghanistan.
In the post 9/11 scenario the border areas of NWFP & Balochistan
have been profoundly affected. In addition to the influx of
Afghan refugees, large numbers of the local population has
been displaced from the border zone because of security concerns.
Due to lack of basic health care and harsh living conditions
in temporary shelters, the population in the conflict areas
has become particularly vulnerable. The situation has further
deteriorated after October 8, 2005 earthquake which affected
NWFP and Pakistan part of Jammu and Kashmir region.
