National - Page 2

Federal Health Minister Urges Action As Vaccination Refusals Hindering Polio Eradication

Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal has expressed serious concern over vaccine refusals, stating that nearly 43,000 parents in Sindh — 42,000 of them in Karachi alone —have refused polio vaccination for their children, posing a major obstacle to the eradication efforts. He made these remarks while visiting the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre for Polio (EOC) in Sindh to assess…

High Temperatures, Extreme Rainfall Threaten Child Growth In Pakistan: Study

ISLAMABAD: Prolonged exposure to high temperatures and extreme precipitation for the last one and a half decades is worsening malnutrition among children under the age of two in Pakistan, leading to increased stunting and wasting, a recent study revealed. Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the research highlights…

Child Waste-pickers

A SIGNIFICANT number of children in Pakistan participate in waste-picking for economic…

Abandoned Daughters

Beyond policy measures, there must be a fundamental shift in how daughters…

Fasting Among Children May Cause Growth Problems

The weather has started becoming hot while the fasting duration, from ‘sehr’ to ‘iftar’ is over thirteen-and-a-half hours and in the existing conditions, according to paediatricians, frequent fasting among children particularly below 11 or 12 years of age may not be recommended. Studies have revealed that because of having smaller…

Children With Down Syndrome Can Do Everything; They Just Need Different Strategies

KARACHI: Five-year-old Zainab sits with her mother, having her hand painted on paper. Next to her, a toddler dabbles happily in green paint with his mom. All around, pre-schoolers wearing mismatched socks dance around to the tunes of Cocomelon’s nursery rhymes. Two schools came together at the KDSP — A…

Govt, Foreign Donors Reaffirm Commitment To End Polio

ISLAMABAD: Global donors and partners have reaffirmed their commitment to fully eradicate poliovirus from Pakistan. The government, alongside international donors and development partners, gathered in Islamabad to reaffirm their commitment to collaborative efforts to ensure a polio-free future for children. Organised by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative, the review meeting…

Alarm As WHO faces $95m Funding Gap In Pakistan’s Health Sector

Islamabad: The World Health Organisation has sounded the alarm on Pakistan’s health crisis, emphasising that a $95 million funding shortfall threatens critical healthcare programmes. The UN agency, dedicated to safeguarding global public health, warned that without urgent action to address the funding crisis, millions of lives in Pakistan would be…

Constitutional Bench Told: Punjab Makes Holy Quran Teaching Compulsory In Schools

ISLAMABAD: The federal government and the government of Punjab and Balochistan on 19 March 2025 filed their response in the Supreme Court on the constitutional petition seeking legislation to make the teaching of the Holy Quran compulsory in educational institutions. A five-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and…

NCRC Representatives Summoned In Missing Children’s Case

ISLAMABAD: The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court on 18th March summoned representatives of the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) in a case moved to seek a declaration that police should treat the issue of missing children as a cognisable offence. Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, the…

Senate Panel Agrees To Stengthen Police Role In Sex Offenders Registration

Islamabad: The Senate’s Anti-Rape Special Committee on 14-March-2025 agreed to strengthen the police’s role in enforcing the sex offenders register initiative and broaden the legal framework to better manage and monitor sex offenders in the country. The committee members, including chairperson Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, who met at the law…

Polio Fight Is A National Responsibility, Says Minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal on 12th March announced that polio eradication would be considered as a national responsibility and vowed to take all possible steps during his tenure to make the country free of the virus. He expressed these views during a visit to the National…

Teacher Support

SOMEONE recently reminded me we don’t need great resources for teaching. A good teacher can teach under a tree. While this may have been true in another time, contemporary demands of technological integration in learning necessitate the development of infrastructure and a set of skills for the 21st century. The…

Polio Challenge

POLIO has emerged as a major challenge in Pakistan. It is not simply a challenge in the health sector, but has also become both a security and political issue. It has been reported that 74 polio cases emerged in the country last year. Pakistan now has the dubious distinction of…