Citizens for better healthcare

AS a nuclear state and the sole arbiter of global peace trying to avoid World War III, we need to pay equal attention to the precarious situation of the people of Pakistan, especially the most vulnerable — poor women and children. Pakistan’s global optics are great today and the government deserves kudos, but the real development has to be inside out. From a submerged and swelling mountain of poverty, disease and consistently declining human development, the latest tip of the iceberg emerged from Taunsa in the form of the HIV transmission among children. Yes, the tip of the iceberg, since the major drivers of HIV are prevalent across the country, ie, unsafe medical practices, including the reuse of contaminated syringes and unscreened blood for transfusion. To be precise, in Taunsa, a joint mission of WHO, Unicef, UNAIDS and Punjab’s Department of Health and Population was conducted in April 2025, covering the period since December 2024. Until then, 120 cases had been recorded, out of which 75 per cent of infections occurred in children under the age of five years. The mission’s report says that “Analysis of reported modes of transmission shows that blood transfusions (48pc) and contaminated needle use (48pc) are the primary contributors to the outbreak”. It rightly concludes that the paediatric HIV outbreak in Taunsa is not just a local health crisis — it is a powerful reflection of broader systemic vulnerabilities within our healthcare system. A BBC Eye documentary had recorded the same unsafe practices in the same hospital some weeks ago. By then, the recorded number of cases had swelled to 331. This is a horrendous situation, to say the least. The official attitude among provincial bureaucrats, programme managers and health professionals in the public sector is still hush-hush. The public healthcare system in Pakist