WHO team finds five of the weakest areas in

health sector
ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Health
Regulations (IHR), which was on a 10-day visit to Pakistan, found five weakest areas in the
health sector and recommended the government to pay proper attention to them.
According to an official statement, the objectives of the mission were to assess the current
capabilities in areas affecting the public health, identify gaps and challenges and provide
recommendations for priority actions.
In reply to a question, Director General Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) Dr Asad
Hafeez said though a detailed report would be received after two weeks, in the preliminary report
the delegation identified a shortage of human resource in the health department.
Laboratories and other systems required for diagnosis of diseases also needed to be
strengthened. Moreover, the delegation stressed that steps should be taken for a strict monitoring
at the entry and exit points of the country (airports) to ensure that diseases are not transmitted,
he said.

Govt asked to enhance national coordination and set up surveillance system against
infectious diseases

For tackling the weaknesses, the delegation recommended coordination at the federal and
provincial levels through a joint public health commission, defining key priorities, establishment
of surveillance and laboratory systems, development of uniform regulatory standards for food
security and checking the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) caused by an excessive use of
antibiotics.
The visit was undertaken as part of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), which was
launched in February 2014 to make the world safe and secure from infectious diseases and bring
together nations to make new, concrete commitments and enhance the global health security.
Led by Dr Karen Slater, the delegation comprised international health experts, including Dr Mika
Salminen and Dr Brian McCloskey.
Dr Asad Hafeez told Dawn that though health was already an important issue at the international
level, after the outbreak of the Ebola virus it was being taken more seriously.

After detailed deliberations, 19 technical areas in the health sector were identified under GHSA
and it was decided that all countries would be pushed to take steps for the strengthening of the
health system to ensure international health regulations. It was also decided that teams of health
experts would visit different countries to analyse their strengths and weaknesses, he said.
Though the teams have visited some of the developed countries such as the UK, Pakistan was the
first country in the Eastern Mediterranean region and in Asia which voluntarily allowed the team
of health experts for the visit, he said.
We wanted that our weaknesses should be identified and after that we will start efforts to
address those issues. We will also contact foreign donor agencies to cooperate in addressing the
issues, he said.
Speaking at a briefing on Friday, the regional director of WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region
Office (EMRO), Dr Ala Alwan, appreciated the commitment of the Ministry of NHS and
provincial departments for supporting the mission activities, said the statement.
Secretary NHS Ayub Sheikh said the government had fulfilled its commitment made during the
last WHO regional committee meeting held at Kuwait in 2015 to carry out a joint external
evaluation.
An official of the ministry requesting anonymity added that one of the major challenges which
the country had been facing was the possibility of transportation of diseases from Pakistan to
other countries.
Another issue is the AMR because of the excessive use of antibiotics, he said.
The misuse and overuse of antibiotics in human and animal health sector and food production
have promoted widespread distribution of resistant organisms in Pakistan.
It is observed that viruses have internal intelligence due to which they change itself according to
medicines and create resistance against it.
In the past, viruses could be killed with low potency medicines but now high potency medicines
are required. So the use of antibiotics without prescription has to be banned otherwise the viruses
can become immune to antibiotics, he said.