Cost-free treatment and related facilities have contributed to an approximate 45 percent decrease in malaria cases in Pakistan.
“It [malaria] has not remained a life threat for the population as it was almost a decade ago because of the availability of medicine and several other steps taken at the government level to reduce its burden, through the Malaria Control Program,” says public health expert Dr. Sharif Astori.
2015 saw an estimated one million malaria cases in Pakistan. Less than a decade later, fewer people are contracting the disease and, the ones who do, are less worried about the outcome. The latter is not only due to quicker diagnoses, higher priority, and better facilities, but also thanks to the free-of-cost program in place. “If a patient is confirmed with malaria, medicine to cover three or more months of treatment is provided by the hospital free of cost,” explains Dr. Asma Khan, a medical officer at Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Pakistan.