Health Care, Disease Control, Crime and Safety in Pakistan

In Pakistan, health services as well as sanitation are poor in general, especially in rural areas. Around 19% of the Pakistani population are malnourished. This percentage is comparably higher as compared to the average malnutrition rate in developing countries, which is 17%. Many children having ages lesser than 5 years also lack the necessary nutrition needed in order to grow well. Around 30% of children, aging 5 and less are under nourished. There are also a lot of diseases that kill people every year such as gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid fever, respiratory infections and congenital abnormalities. AIDS is also a major killer in Pakistan. According to a research data provided by the United Nations, almost 5,000 people died from the HIV virus in the year 2003. In addition, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B are also spreading out in the country. There are millions of cases of these diseases in the country every year.

In addition, the number of medical personnel in Pakistan is very insufficient as compared to the number of the citizens that need medical attention every year. There are only around 127,859 doctors and more than 12,000 health facilities at present that meet the needs of more than 170 million people. Additional information provides that there were around 85 physicians for every 100,000 persons in Pakistan in the year 2005. Generally speaking, Pakistan does have a very long way to go in order to provide adequate medical needs to all of its citizens.