Babar Tasneem Shaikh
Director Health & Built Environment at Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan
Title: Community governance
Biography
Biography: Babar Tasneem Shaikh
Abstract
Primary health care (PHC) in Pakistan has been unable to deliver the desired results as per the spirit of Alma Ata affirmations in 1978. Meager budget, death of human resource, inadequate equipment, drugs and supplies, and above all, a state of non-responsive has resulted in a huge distrust of the communities on the PHC system. The foremost to suffer are the vulnerable segments of any population i.e. mothers and children. Case studies from the developing countries have shown that improving governance in health by employing various means and modalities can improve the whole state of affairs. Such modus operandi has been documented as public private partnership, contracting, alternate financing, community health revolving fund, and community governance. Mother care and Child Survival project has demonstrated as to how a multi-tiered governance system instituted can safeguard the health needs of mothers, newborns and children by making quality services available, acceptable, accessible and affordable.