The importance of the health sector has been acknowledged in the Annual Report 2004-05 of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Households with incomes close to poverty line, both below and above are especially vulnerable to major illness, often falling into poverty trap as a consequence.
According to the National Human Development Survey, 2003 in Pakistan, 55 percent of the poor and 65 percent of the extremely poor were ill. Recognising this strong link between health and poverty, the government has identified the former as the important area for its poverty reduction strategy.
According to UNDP Human Development Report 2005, in Pakistan, 38 percent of the children under five years of age were classified as underweight, while 37 percent were stunted.
Pakistan enjoyed a relatively better position in life expectancy - this had reached 64 years by 2003 compared to the average value of 63.2 years in South Asia - which is the second highest in the Saarc region. Progress in some leading health indicators has accelerated during FY02-05 compared to FY1999-02 period.
Malnutrition has been an important cause of illness in Pakistan. The most vulnerable groups affected by malnutrition are children and women. The National Nutrition Survey 2001-02 reports that 38 percent of children (6-59 months) were underweight, 36.8 were stunted and 13.8 percent were wasted.
EDUCATION Access to quality education is one of the basic rights of people living in a country. It can play a pivotal role in growth and development through improving the productivity of labour force and enhancing the ability of people to get the benefits from innovations and technological advancement.
Unfortunately, Pakistan's track record in literacy and education has not been satisfactory. Indeed, education status of Pakistan is very low compared to other countries at similar level of per-capita income.
In the UNDP report for 2005 (based on 2003 data), with respect to education index Pakistan was ranked at 165th position out of 177 members compared to 130th position with respect to GDP Index.
Similarly, by the year 2000 the gross primary enrolment rate was above 100 percent mark in all the Saarc members, except Pakistan. Even the current GPER at 86 percent is well below the 100 percent mark.
The government is also focusing on higher education in the country. In this regard, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was established on September 11, 2002. Also, various programs were initiated such as: increased number of scholarships for both national and international universities; faculty development through training and opportunities for higher education; curriculum revision, equipping laboratories and libraries, etc.
Although, these measures will help in promoting the higher education in the country, it is essential to ensure that skill acquired through education should be in accordance to current and future requirement of the labour markets both in and outside Pakistan.
ENVIRONMENT A clean and healthy environment is one of the major constituents of human wellbeing. As in many other developing countries, there is a great scope for improving the condition of people in Pakistan by ensuring a good environment.
It is especially true in the case of poor segment of the society that relies more on environmental resources than the rich counterpart. Sustainable improvement in the health sector in Pakistan not only required better health facilities, but preventive measures against factors causing poor health are vital as well. Improving living environment is one such measure that can reduce the probability of getting sick. As there is a strong positive correlation between poor health and poverty, the improvement in the environment could also prove instrumental in reducing poverty in the country.
POVERTY While the real per capita income in Pakistan saw a strong recovery since FY03, a legitimate question to ask is how much this recovery has helped in reducing the poverty in the country.
The 2004 quick survey shows that poverty has declined between 2001 and 2004. Specifically, percentage of population below poverty line reduced from 27.3 in 2001 to 23.1 in 2004. Both urban and rural areas shared the improvement, while the former saw significantly larger reduction in head count ratio.
Moreover, the decline in unemployment and improved participation rate also support the view that poverty has improved in Pakistan during the last couple of years. However, to identify the extent of decline one has to wait till December 2005, when FBS is expected to release detailed results of the comprehensive PSLM survey for 2004-05.