Synergizing health and population in Pakistan

The delivery of health and family planning services in Pakistan is the respective mandate of the Ministry of Health/departments of health and the Ministry of Population Welfare. This institutional separation creates issues due to marginalization of family planning and reproductive health as core health issues. The government of Pakistan has made several attempts in the past to merge both the institutional hierarchal arrangements. This study was conducted to examine if merger is a viable option and to explore a way forward to bridge the current population-health disconnect in the country. Qualitative survey methods, inclusive of review of published and grey literature, archival analysis, informant interviews and focus group discussions were used for the analysis. Findings outline both the imperatives for merging the ministries and the challenges inherent in doing so. Recommendations recognize that although not a sufficient step to improve health and population outcomes, creating synergies between the health and population sectors is an imperative. The sustainable long-term solution to the existing population-health disconnect centres on deep-rooted reform at several levels in both the institutional hierarchies, with transformation of the role of stewardship agencies and reengineering of service delivery arrangements as its hallmarks. Restructured service delivery arrangements are meant to allow the delivery of a set of MDG+ services, where family planning and reproductive health are grouped alongside and together with essential health services. The latter are envisaged to be a yardstick for public delivery of services and the basis of contractual relationships in new management arrangements, which involve a role for the private sector. The short to medium term strategies proposed in this paper centre on a range of specific collaborative measures with a view to building capacity for the broader systems transformation. Sustained political and institutional commitment will be needed to implement these recommendations.