Stewardship in health policy and its relevance to Pakistan

Since the concept of stewardship in health care first appeared in World Health Report 2000 there has been very limited discussion in the academia about its implications. In the present paper we revisit this concept and review the literature that has been written about it. We have particularly focused on the role of stewardship in health policy of Pakistan. We also highlight the improvement that stewardship can bring about in the health policy of Pakistan and the possible constraints that might be faced during its implementation phase. The literature available is on the concept of stewardship in health policy. The search was done through the database of PubMed with key words including; stewardship, health policy, governance, and role of state. A total of 22 articles were shortlisted and included in the review. The concept of stewardship has a lot of potential to reinterpret and reinvigorate the role of the state in Public Health of nations across the globe, including Pakistan.