Welfare Impact of the Lady Health Workers Programme in Pakistan

In: The Pakistan development review: PDR, Band 53, Heft 2, S. 119-143

Abstract

With the year 2015 fast approaching, Pakistan is not likely to
achieve most of the health targets set in the Millennium Development
Goals [Pakistan (2010)]. High levels of child and maternal mortality and
child malnutrition are among the major health challenges facing the
country. Along with this enhanced vulnerability for children and women
there is also an economic divide in the society because these health
challenges are more profound for the poor segment of the population than
for the better off. Another divide is between the rural and urban
populations due to concentration of health facilities in urban centres
of the country. The high cost of dealing with health issues adversely
affects the poor and rural population, lowering their productivity and
limiting their lifetime achievements. Without substantially improved
health outcomes it is impossible to break out of the cycle of poverty
[OECD (2003)].