KARACHI: The $258 million National Health Support Program (NHSP) will likely be considered by the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors next month to improve the fair delivery and quality of primary health care services vital to Universal Health Coverage.

Co-financing the NHSP is expected to cost around $130 million, with $80 million coming from the Global Financing Facility, according to official records (GFF). 

Credit and grant funds will be combined for the Disbursement-linked Indicators (DLIs) and the Insurance Premium Finance (IPF).

World Bank Funding For Pakistan

Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Sindh, and the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination will make all profit from the proposed NHSP because it will be national in scope (MoNHSR&C). 

With this program's assistance, Pakistan's government hopes to further its Universal Health Coverage (UHC) initiative, ensuring that all citizens of Pakistan have access to quality health care, regardless of where they live.

To ensure equal access to high-quality primary health care (PHC), the planned NHSP will work with provincial governments to devolve more responsibilities to local governments. 
However, the Pakistani government's primary and secondary care services are included in the NHSP. Still, the PHC is defined in Pakistan as services provided to Rural Health Centres and lower, including the community level.

There will be no direct funding for secondary or tertiary care under the Program for Results (PforR). 
Pakistan's provincial governments are expected to implement the NHSP. Still, the PforR is also meant to help the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoNHSR&C) strengthen its coordination, research, and reporting on Pakistan's progress toward universal health coverage (UHC).

The recommended Program Development Objectives (PDO) level outcomes indicators are as follows:

UHC index (modified to reflect PHC essential health services) rises (disaggregated by province and lagging districts).

Modern contraceptives are becoming more popular among married women between 15 and 49. (disaggregated by province and lagging districts).

An increase in the percentage of women receiving covered prenatal care (disaggregated by province).

Spending on primary healthcare isn't covered by salaries (disaggregated by province).

According to the data, Pakistan will have 227.5 million people by the year 2020, 48 million of whom will be of childbearing age and 32 million of whom will be under the age of five. 
In 2019, the GNI per capita stood at $1,410. 

The country's growth possibilities have been limited by periodic macroeconomic crises and a low human capital base. 

Between FY2019 and FY2020, GDP grew at a rate of roughly 4.3 percent on a yearly basis, lagging behind the South Asian average of 6.2 percent.

A child born in Pakistan can expect to reach only 41% of his or her potential because of the hazards of poor health and education. 

This is below the median for South Asia (0.50) and countries with a lesser middle class (0.47). 

Even the national Human Capital Index (HCI) obscures the enormous regional disparities. " 

Balochistan is at 0.32 percent, Sindh is at 0.36 percent, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is at 0.39 percent. 
The pandemic has weakened and stretched the already strained public health system, making human capital accumulation even more difficult.

In Pakistan, the pandemic has seen multiple outbreaks of COVID-19. 
People were scared to seek treatment because of the disruptions in the supply chain and the redeployment of health care professionals caused by the infections and containment measures, which made it difficult to provide essential health services. 

A pandemic may wipe out eight years' worth of progress in human capacity (two HCI points) based on global schooling and child mortality simulations, with harsher consequences for the poor and vulnerable.

The documents also revealed that Pakistan's health outcomes had improved significantly over the last decade. Still, it failed to meet the 2015 health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Given the current trends, it is unlikely to meet most of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in this area (SDGs).

Sixty-seven years of life expectancy was reached in 2019 in Pakistan, up from 60 in 1990. 

Despite this, it's still below average for the region of South Asia. 

A high level of stunting (38 percent in 2018) and newborn mortality (23 percent in 2019) among married women show that progress in reproductive, maternal, and child health has also been insufficient, as indicated by the low contraceptive (modern methods) prevalence among married women (2019). (41 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019). 

Children in Pakistan who are 12 to 23 months old have only gotten a third dosage of DPT, compared to 90% in the South Asia region and 88% in low-income nations.

Socioeconomic and geographic gaps continue to be significant. 
The less fortunate are being ignored. 

There are 34 neonatal fatalities per 1,000 live births in the fourth wealth quintile, whereas 51 deaths/mortalities per 1,000 live births in the bottom quintile.