Community health promotion in Pakistan: a policy development perspective

Pakistan was one of the initial signatories to the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978; however, it was not until 2004 that the first policy dedicated solely to public health and health promotion was launched. The National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and Health Promotion in Pakistan has gained a prominent place on the nation's health agenda competing for resources with traditional health policies that focus on treatment, cure and evolving technology. From a health promotion perspective the action plan was unique in that it focused on the community setting through two major behavioral communication change initiatives--one through the media and the other by integrating non-communicable disease prevention into the work plan of the Lady Health Workers. The development phase of this inaugural public health/health promotion policy follows closely the pathway of the Australian Policy Cycle and celebrates a comprehensive consultation process. Its strength comes from the tripartite partnership between the Government, the World Health Organization and a Non-Government Organization, Heartfile who lent impetus to the creation of the initiative. This public-private partnership greatly facilitated the process of policy development and continues to support research, implementation and evaluation. This paper endeavors to analyze the development of the National Action Plan with a focus on community health promotion.