Pakistanis to continue suffering from low economic growth, poor public health: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 25 : Pakists will continue to suffer from living in a country plagued by low productivity, low economic growth, and poor public health services, regardless of who ends up 'winning' the current set of battles, writes Mosharraf Zaidi an analyst and commentator for Pakistan-based Dawn.

According to Zaidi, three urgent national crises in Pakistan will remain unaddressed no matter who comes out on top in the political and institutional free-for-all battle royale that currently rages among Pakistan's elite.

The reason for this is simple, none of the key actors in the political spectrum, none of the Supreme Court judges and no individual civil servant, none among the twos, three-or-four-star generals, nor any of the 22 secretaries has any interest in addressing these three urgent national crises, Zaidi said.

According to Zaidi, election or no election, democracy or dictatorship, rule of the jungle or rule of law, Pakistan will continue to be less than the sum of its parts.

What are these three urgent national crises and why are they so important? The first is Pakist society's broken relationship with time. The second is extremely low female labour participation rates. The third is irredeemably poor hygiene, writes Zaidi for Dawn.

As per the analyst, the broken relationship with time is intimately connected to a national work culture that features, above all, low productivity. Extremely low female labour participation rates essentially exclude half the population from contributing to the gross domestic product or GDP.

Poor hygiene is the source of public health crises that range from typhoid and cholera to persistent and chronic diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, Hepatitis A and more generically, overall low immunity to viruses and infections.

These three distinct national crises convene together to become a much deeper and more profound vortex of persistent low productivity, according to Zaidi for Dawn.

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