‘Diarrhoea kills 27,000 kids in Punjab every year’

LAHORE
A pre-budget advocacy seminar was organised by Policy and Strategic Planning Unit (PSPU) of the Punjab Health Department in collaboration with Save the Children Pakistan.
The seminar was arranged to secure government commitment for increased multi-sectoral budgetary allocations for child health especially for diarrhoea prevention and control in Punjab. Salman Mufti, Special Secretary Health, Punjab, chaired the seminar while NajeebAslam, Director Local Government and Community Development Department, Dr. Zahida Sarwar from PSPU, Zulqarnain Fida Public Health Engineering Department and Dr. Irshad Danish from Save the Children also attended the seminar. Key policy makers including health managers from PSPU, Health Secretariat & Director General Health Services, Communicable Disease Control Department, Extended Programme for Immunization, Integrated Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health & Nutrition, education, pediatricians, academia, Finance Department, Planning & Development Department, HUD & PHE department, LG & CD department, Saaf Pani Company and UN agencies were also present.
While addressing the seminar Salman Mufti, Special Secretary Health, Punjab, said “We realise that the government is already making efforts in the health sector, but this is not enough; we cannot let children die of diseases, which can be prevented easily. The key to success is in data sharing and it will help in devising better policies while PSPU is playing a vital role in it. The recommendations made here are really impressive and worth acting on; the need is to make collaborative efforts from all involved departments. The purpose of gathering here is to make a point and bring it into government’s notice before the upcoming budget is finalized and presented before the House.”
Representatives from all participating departments presented the budget analysis of year 2014, along with recommendations for the upcoming budget of year 2015 to have an optimum utilisation of the health budget for child survival and healthy growth. The participants brought to light the fact that the preventable disease like diarrhoea is claiming more than 27,000 lives of children under five years of age alone in the Punjab each year. Furthermore, resource allocation and utilisation was also discussed. On the basis of the analysis, various departments gave their recommendations to increase the health budget of 2015, particularly to address the mortality rate due to preventable diseases. They agreed that more budgetary allocations should be made for preventive child healthcare than the curative. The budget of primary health care should be increased so that it may automatically decrease the burden on tertiary healthcare budget while minimizing the burden of diseases in Punjab.
An open discussion was facilitated to further analyse the realistic situation followed by remarks shared by Finance Department, Planning & Development Department and the chief guest Salman Mufti.
Talking to the media Dr. Irshad Danish from Save the Children Pakistan said, “Before budget 2015, we together with the public decision makers of the Punjab government wanted to highlight the severity and seriousness of diarrhoea-related deaths among children under five. This mortality rate is unacceptably high. There is a need to work in a public-private partnership mode in the worst affected areas for giving communities much needed and speedy relief. A good example of this partnership is Save the Children’s diarrhea control program in Hafizabad and Khanewal; the success of this initiative depends on Punjab government’s support and ownership. Further, the focus needs to be strengthened on awareness, communication and media campaigns so that this component can also be utilized other than the technical aspects.”