Can Pakistan Effectively Respond to Coronavirus Pandemic?

Pakistani public health system's ability to deal with Covid19 pandemic is increasingly being questioned with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases spiking in the country. The current hotspot is in southern Sindh province where the provincial government is taking the lead in fighting its spread by shutting schools, closing restaurants and shopping malls and banning large gatherings such as weddings and conferences. The federal government has closed Pakistan's western border with Iran where the coronavirus pandemic is raging. Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has started screening all incoming passengers and stopped flights to and from several countries hit by the pandemic. Pakistani health experts are advising people with flu-like symptoms to self-isolate in their homes. The best known treatment for the severely ill is Resochin, the anti-malarial antiviral made by Bayer Pakistan. Hydroxycholroquine (HCQ), made by Getz Pakistan, is also reportedly effective in treating Covid19.

Coronavirus Global Pandemic

Is Pakistan Ready?

Pakistan is among only 6 countries in the world that have taken the steps they need to evaluate their ability to withstand a global pandemic, according to a 2017 report sponsored by the World Bank. The 6 countries named in the report are: Eritrea, Finland, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania and the United States.

Covid19 Coronavirus. Source: US CDC

Pakistan's ability to deal with a pandemic is now being tested by the coronavirus. The current hotspot for it is in southern Sindh province where the provincial government is taking the lead in fighting its spread by shutting schools, closing restaurants and shopping malls and banning large gatherings such as weddings and conferences. The federal government has closed Pakistan's western border with Iran where the coronavirus pandemic is raging. Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has started screening all incoming passengers and stopped flights to and from several countries hit by the pandemic. Pakistani health experts are advising people with flu-like symptoms to self-isolate in their homes.

Pakistan is ramping up coronavirus testing and setting up isolation wards at many hospitals in Sindh and across the country. More testing accounts for the spike in confirmed cases. The best known treatment for the severely ill is Resochin, the anti-malarial antiviral made by Bayer Pakistan.

In response to a recent request by Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper staff, World Health Organization Executive Director Dr. Michael J. Ryan said Pakistan has great capacity in public health but he also talked of challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic. “Pakistan has a highly mobile population with mega cities and undeserved people,” he said.  “So there is a great challenge facing Pakistan. But Pakistan has also demonstrated time and again with dengue, polio and other diseases how all of the government and society’s approaches can be made to work.”

Dr. Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Pakistan, also lauded Pakistan's response to Covid19 pandemic, according to The News. He said,  “Pakistan has timely come up with one of the world’s best National Response Program against COVID-19 and it is being implemented very effectively. Authorities are doing their job and now it is the responsibility of the people to follow the instructions and take preventive and precautionary measures to avoid contracting the viral disease.”

The World Bank report titled "From Panic and Neglect to Investing in Health Security: Financing Pandemic Preparedness at a National Level" was written by experts from the World Bank,  the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the African and Asian development banks, and finance officials from various governments. The report included estimates of the economic damage various epidemics had done. For example, the viral pneumonia SARS — which ultimately killed only 774 people — shrank China’s gross domestic product by 0.5 percent in 2003. The report also broke down costs on a per capita basis. A major flu pandemic, for example, would cost Afghanistan only $12 per citizen, India $31, Pakistan $28 and the United States $248.

Social Distancing:


The current hotspot is in southern Sindh province where the provincial government is taking the lead in fighting its spread by shutting schools, closing restaurants and shopping malls and banning large gatherings. The federal government has closed Pakistan's western border with Iran where the coronavirus pandemic is raging. Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has started screening all incoming passengers and stopped flights to and from several countries hit by the pandemic.

Italian experience with coronavirus has shown that even a well-developed public health system in a rich European country can be overwhelmed by rapidly growing pandemic such as Covid19.  The best way to handle the situation is to cut the infection rate by keeping people about 6 feet apart. This is being called "social distancing".

Social Distancing to Limit Infection Rates 

Based on what the United States has learned from what is happening in Italy, major cities and states in America are taking steps to reduce large gatherings of people. Offices, schools, restaurants and shopping centers are closed with shelter-in-place orders in Silicon Valley and the larger 6-county San Francisco Bay Area.

Herd Immunity:

Herd immunity develops when a large percentage of population is infected or vaccinated. Dr. Arindam Basu, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at University of Canterbury, has recently written an article in The Conversation arguing that it is "unethical and potentially dangerous" to wait for herd immunity to develop in the absence of a vaccine.  It could result in hundreds of thousands or even millions of deaths among the most vulnerable segments of the population such as the elderly and the immune-compromised.

Pakistan's Assistance to China:

Chinese President Xi Jinping has thanked Pakistan for its support during coronabirus outbreak in his country. "China is deeply grateful for Pakistan's support. Facts have proved once again that China and Pakistan are true friends who share weal and woe and good brothers who share each other's joys and sorrows. The special friendship is a historical choice, and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples," said Xi.

Resochin (Chloroquine) Produced by Bayer Pakistan 

At the peak of the outbreak in February, Bayer Pakistan exported to China 300,000 tablets of Resochin (Chloroquine) that proved effective in treating coronavirus infections and saving lives in Wuhan. Resochin is an antiviral drug used for treating malaria. Chloroquine is manufactured by not just Bayer but several other drug companies as well.  China and many other countries discontinued its production years ago.   Several Pakistani pharmaceutical companies also manufacture HydroxyChloroquine which has lower toxicity and fewer side effects. The United Kingdom has banned hoarding and export of both of these drugs. In addition, Pakistan donated 7,000 surgical masks to China at the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.  A recent paper titled "An Effective Treatment for Coronavirus (COVID-19)"  by James M. Todaro, MD and and Gregory J. Rigano, Esq. has published data showing the efficacy of familiar anti-malaria drugs Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine for treatment of and as prophylactic against COVID-19.

In Vitro Efficacy of Chloroquine(CQ) vs Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) Ag...

Recently, Chinese research (reported in Clinical Trials Arena) reported that “data from the drug’s [chloroquine] studies showed ‘certain curative effect’ with ‘fairly good efficacy’ … patients treated with chloroquine demonstrated a better drop in fever, improvement of lung CT images, and required a shorter time to recover compared to parallel groups. The percentage of patients with negative viral nucleic acid tests was also higher with the anti-malarial drug… Chloroquine has so far shown no obvious serious adverse reactions in more than 100 participants in the trials… Chloroquine was selected after several screening rounds of thousands of existing drugs. Chloroquine is undergoing further trials in more than ten hospitals in Beijing, Guangdong province and Hunnan province.”

A small French study found only 25% of COVID19 patients who took it for 6 days still had the virus while 90% of those who had not taken it still had Covid-19.

HCQ (Hydroxychloroquine) Manufactured by Getz Pakistan

Economic Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic:

Service sector accounts for  50% of the world GDP and 54% of Pakistan's GDP.  Social distancing will significantly impact the services, particularly retail, restaurants, travel, transport and education sectors. Imran Khan has expressed fear that the pandemic will devastate the economies of developing countries.

“My worry is poverty and hunger," Khan said. "The world community has to think of some sort of a debt write-off for countries like us, which are very vulnerable, at least that will help us in coping with (the coronavirus).”

Summary:

Pakistan is among only six countries in the world that have taken the steps they need to evaluate their ability to withstand a global pandemic, according to a 2017 report sponsored by the World Bank. The current hotspot is in southern Sindh province where the provincial government is taking the lead in fighting its spread by shutting schools, closing restaurants and shopping malls and banning large gatherings. The federal government has closed Pakistan's western border with Iran where the coronavirus pandemic is raging. Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has started screening all incoming passengers and stopped flights to and from several countries hit by the pandemic.  The best known treatment for the severely ill is Resochin, the anti-malarial antiviral made by Bayer Pakistan.  Dr. Michael Ryan and Dr. Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala of the World Health Organization (WHO) have talked of challenges Pakistan faces but also praised the steps it has taken to fight coronavirus pandemic.

Here's the latest Coronavirus Pandemic Update:

https://youtu.be/vE4_LsftNKM

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Comment by Riaz Haq on April 27, 2020 at 11:19am

#COVID19: #Pakistan’s flag displayed at #Switzerland’s Matterhorn in solidarity. Flags of other countries including the #UnitedStates, #Canada, #Nepal and #Russia have been projected on the mountain as well. #coronavirus https://tribune.com.pk/story/2207346/3-covid-19-pakistans-flag-disp...

As the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan soared past 12,700, a mountain, none other than the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps, was lit up with the country’s flag in a bid to express solidarity and support amid the pandemic.

Every night, the popular mountain is lit up with projections of images, including flags of countries across the globe, that have been hit with the deadly disease.

On April 25, Switzerland’s Matterhorn projected Pakistan’s flag. A picture of which was shared on Twitter.

It said, “Switzerland shows solidarity with the people of Pakistan and wish them strength.”

Artist Gerry Hofstetter started this initiative last month. His first illumination on the mountain was that of the Swiss flag, reported CNN.

Flags of other countries including the United States, Canada, Nepal and Russia have been projected on the mountain as well.
Words such as ‘hope’, ‘solidarity’ and ‘stay home’ have also been displayed.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 29, 2020 at 8:01am

#Pakistan's #coronavirus-idled workers hired to plant billions of trees across the country to deal with #climatechange threats. Officials say move will create over 60,000 jobs as gov't aims to help those who lost jobs due to #Covid_19 #lockdown. @AJENews https://aje.io/ptgpt

When construction worker Abdul Rahman lost his job to Pakistan's coronavirus lockdown, his choices looked stark - resort to begging on the streets or let his family go hungry.

But the government has now given him a better option: Join tens of thousands of other out-of-work labourers in planting billions of trees across the country to deal with climate change threats.

Since Pakistan locked down on March 23 to try to stem the spread of COVID-19, unemployed day labourers have been given new jobs as "jungle workers", planting saplings as part of the country's 10 Billion Tree Tsunami programme.

Such "green stimulus" efforts are an example of how funds that aim to help families and keep the economy running during pandemic shutdowns could also help nations prepare for the next big threat: climate change.

"Due to coronavirus, all the cities have shut down and there is no work. Most of us daily wagers couldn't earn a living," Rahman, a resident of Rawalpindi district in Punjab province, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

He now makes 500 rupees ($3) a day planting trees - about half of what he might have made on a good day, but enough to get by.

"All of us now have a way of earning daily wages again to feed our families," he said.

The ambitious five-year tree-planting programme, which Prime Minister Imran Khan launched in 2018, aims to counter rising temperatures, flooding, droughts and other extreme weather conditions in the country that scientists link to climate change.

The Global Climate Risk Index 2020, issued by think-tank Germanwatch, ranked Pakistan fifth on a list of countries most affected by planetary heating over the last 20 years - even though the South Asian nation contributes only a fraction of global greenhouse gases.

As the coronavirus pandemic struck Pakistan, the 10 Billion Trees campaign was initially halted as part of social distancing orders put in place to slow the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 14,880 people in Pakistan, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

But earlier this month, the prime minister granted an exemption to allow the forestry agency to restart the programme and create more than 63,600 jobs, according to government officials.

A recent assessment by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics found that, due to the lockdown, up to 19 million people could be laid off, almost 70 perfect of them in the Punjab province.

Abdul Muqeet Khan, chief conservator of forests for Rawalpindi district, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the planting project is in "full swing".

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 29, 2020 at 8:28am

The Latest: #Pakistan says 480 #healthcare workers test positive for #coronavirus. There are more than 220,000 doctors and about 144,000 nurses in Pakistan. #COVID19
https://wxow.com/2020/04/29/the-latest-pakistan-says-480-health-wor...

A top health official in Pakistan says as many as 480 health workers have tested positive for coronavirus across the country.
"The safety of our front-line health workers is a matter of grave concern for us," said Zafar Mirza, who advises prime minister on health issues, at the military-backed National Command and Operations Centre in Islamabad.
The National Command and Operations Centre was set up by the government recently amid increasing cases of coronavirus, which stands at 15,289 recorded cases and 335 deaths.
Mirza says they have supplied the required personal protection equipment to doctors and other paramedical staff handling cases of coronavirus at government hospitals.
There are more than 220,000 doctors and about 144,000 nurses in Pakistan, but Mirza said they will provide personal protection equipment to only those who are handling patients of coronavirus. He says any health worker who dies because of handling patients of coronavirus will be given the status of "martyr" apart from financially assisting their families.
About 8,500 people are tested a day in a country of 220 million.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 2, 2020 at 7:12am

Is COVID-19 Pakistan’s Black Swan Event for Digital Payments?
MAY 1, 2020
Tariq Malik and Alan Gelb

https://www.cgdev.org/blog/covid-19-pakistans-black-swan-event-digi...

As shown by the technical underpinnings of its Ehsaas emergency program, Pakistan has all of the necessary building blocks to roll out its digital payments system and expand access to mobile money. It should seize the opportunity.


The Ehsaas Emergency Cash program was launched at the end of March to distribute funds to 12 million families (an estimated 67 million people) whose livelihood has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic or its aftermath. Each eligible family is entitled to 12,000 Pakistani rupees (PKR), equivalent to $72.07. As of the end of April, 6.6 million beneficiary families representing some 37 million people had already received the payment, for a total of PKR 79.2 billion ($476 million). Cash can be picked up at 17,000 distribution centers set up nationwide, after biometric authentication against the database of NADRA (the National Database and Registration Authority), which houses the digital identity of 122 million citizens. The program has been an important way to get much-needed cash to those affected, but it also presents an opportunity to advance digital payments in a way that benefits the poor—but only if stakeholders seize the

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Targeting involves screening against a range of databases linked to the ID number, along the lines of the process used in 2012 to identify potential taxpayers. These include the BISP database; the NSER (National Economic and Social Registry) survey conducted in 2010; and analytics on databases covering immigration (travel patterns), civil and public servant payrolls, utility bills, telecommunications subscriptions, vehicle registration and other areas. NADRA also maintains access to a registry detailing relationships between identified individuals, with each family assigned a unique family ID number. Of a total of 146 million SMS requests for assistance, it was reported that the number of unique claimants was 48 million. Over 2 million of the 48 million were found to be invalid, while almost a million more were found to be ineligible due to having government jobs and high scores on the poverty index. The remainder could be sorted into the three beneficiary categories of the program: Female recipients who score below 16 on a 100-point means test (already part of the BISP program); heads of families that score between 16 and 32 (newly added by Ehsaas); and those scoring above this level, who are screened electronically and on the ground by commissioners at the district level. Further screening rejected nearly 14 million of the category 3 applicants, leaving the rest to be checked at the provincial level.

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It is time to expand this sector by removing the barriers. Some positive steps have been taken. The federal government has approved the waiver of 24 percent advance income tax on the commissions of branchless banking retailers. This is a good start, but the provincial governments need to waive the general sales tax of 14-16 percent on commissions to accelerate incentives to expand access to digital money. As other governments have concluded, an investment in digital payments is an investment for the poor. With a fixed line penetration rate of less than 20 percent, mobile is already the preferred platform for half of the country’s 30 million internet users.

The Ehsaas Emergency Cash program offers an opportunity to incorporate mobile payments technology into the implementation of social protection. Could it be the Black Swan event for Pakistan to expand its mobile money market? The question demands the attention of all stakeholders—government, NADRA, BISP, the banks, mobile operators, and their regulators. It would be a pity if Pakistan were to waste this creative moment.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 3, 2020 at 7:35am

#Pakistan developing key medical equipment to fight #COVID-19: #ventilators, #sanitizers, #PPE suits, face #masks, thermal cameras, etc. #coronavirus https://gn24.ae/9ccb9d79726f000

Pakistan is ramping up local production capacity of essential medical supplies to become secure and self-sufficient in the fight against coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases surged past 18,000.

Visiting the exhibition of medical products at the COMSTECH centre, Prime Minister Imran Khan praised the efforts of Pakistani engineers and developers who are helping on three fronts: supporting the local economy, reducing costs and helping contain COVID-19 spread.

Ministry of Science & Technology in collaboration with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and others organised the exhibition to showcase the country’s potential. The exhibition titled ‘Changing Calamity into Opportunity’ featured locally produced masks, personal protective equipment (PPEs), sanitisers, disinfectants, and prototypes of ventilators by public and private organisations.

The COVID-19 crisis has provided Pakistan an opportunity to locally manufacture ventilators and other key medical equipment amid the global shortage, PM Imran remarked. The government’s current focus is knowledge economy, research and development (R&D), education, science and technology, the premier said.

Pakistani engineers in public and private sectors are tirelessly working to contribute in the national fight against coronavirus outbreak, said Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Hussain. Pakistan is currently producing PPEs, masks, sanitisers and disinfectants in large numbers. “The textile sector of Faisalabad is actively engaged in producing protective gear for health workers.” The local production may soon exceed local demand in which case the gear can be exported, he said. Fawad urged the government to expand the interaction between civil and military R&D terming it a critical measure in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

PEC officials received at least 48 proposals for locally developed mechanical ventilators of which 13 were accepted. “Currently seven types of ventilators are in final phase of approval” which would be ready within weeks at one-third of the cost of imported ventilators. The approved list includes Corvent by Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), PakVent-1 by DESTO, NED ventilator, VenteLight by PAF, Nuvent by NUTECH, Dignous by DIC and Umbilizer.

Pakistan’s premier defence research organisation, Defence Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), has developed its own version of N95 mask that meets global standards. The locally produced
N95 would cost Rs90 as compared to the imported one priced at Rs1100, he said. National University of Science and Technology (NUST) is currently working on COVID-19 testing kit and has developed disinfectant drones. For the first time, Pakistani scientists are collaborating with global health organisations to speed up COVID vaccine process.

Ministry of Defence helping in fight against COVID-19
Minister of Defence Production Zobaida Jalal also stepped up to the COVID challenge. In early April, the engineers at the ministry’s NRTC (National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation) repaired over 171 ventilators free of cost to cope with the shortage of equipment.

She said her ministry has now developed the capability to produce around 300,000 — 400,000 litres of sanitisers, 35,000 high quality masks and 400-500 protective suits per day. POF had so far supplied around 200,000 masks and 350 PPE suits to NDMA, while another 20,000 suits were under preparation.


NRTC has also developed thermal cameras, walk through gates and VG70 ventilators and would soon begin the distribution. The minister urged for active collaboration between ministries to effectively combat COVID-19 pandemic.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 4, 2020 at 11:00am

A sweeping 81% satisfied with Federal Govt performance with respect to #COVIDー19

@GallupPak Corona Perception Tracker

These are very unusual numbers ! But not without parallels from around the world

Crisis brings good in govt and ppls expectations set changes !

https://twitter.com/bilalgilani/status/1257212864110215169?s=21

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 5, 2020 at 12:37pm

With no families allowed, strangers shoulder coffins for #Pakistan’s #COVID19 dead. Rescue 1122 says it has buried 172 suspected coronavirus victims in #Punjab. https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1668856#.XrG-WoroYe9.twitter


Dr. Hafiz Sanaullah had only known his patient for a week. Yet, the two formed a strong bond. On most evenings, in an isolation ward for coronavirus patients in Pakistan’s northern Shangla district, the two men would sit together and talk for hours.
Muhammad Zar, a professional cook, would shares stories of his childhood, his home, and, if he was in the mood, his favorite recipes. The young doctor would regale the father of five with details of his day. Sometimes, Dr. Sanaullah would bring home-cooked meals for his patient to critique.
“That is how we would pass time,” the doctor told Arab News, over the phone, “It was a short, but a lovely relationship.”
On April 7, Zar succumbed to the deadly disease. At 5 a.m., when the doctor arrived at the hospital, Zar’s lifeless body lay in front of him.
At that point, Dr. Sanaullah knew that he would have to go above and beyond for his 65-year-old patient in the absence of Zar’s family, who were confined to their homes since the day he tested positive.

“It was my duty to give my friend a proper and dignified funeral,” he said. “Despite the risk.”
In the next hour, the physician washed the body and carefully wrapped it in a plastic bag, following the World Health Organization’s guidelines on burials for Covid-19 victims.
Only a handful of men who worked at the hospital were in attendance as the doctor offered funeral prayers.
The body was then taken to Zar’s village for a second funeral, where health officials warned people on the loud speaker against crowding the streets or coming near the body bag.
Zar’s 21-year-old son Nazeer Ahmed stood at a distance and watched. He could not touch or kiss his father for the last time.
“My sisters didn’t even attend the funeral because the whole area had been cordoned off,” Ahmed told Arab News. “We barely got to see his face. What will we tell our father when we meet him on the day of judgment?”
After the burial, district administration officials burned down everything Zar had touched, including his walking stick, wallet, blanket and even his identity card.
“We have nothing left of him,” Ahmed said, his voice choking on the phone, “This is such a cruel disease.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan, funeral rituals and traditions have quickly and dramatically changed.
As per Pakistan’s National Institute of Health guidelines, only trained personnel can handle the remains of a confirmed case. When preparing for a burial, the body should be placed in a plastic bag and those handling the body should be wearing personal protection equipment (PPE), including disposable gloves, overalls, face mask and a plastic apron.
All belongings of the patient should either be disinfected or burned.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 5, 2020 at 12:47pm
World Bank hails #Pakistan’s cash for poor. “Cash transfers will be instrumental in mitigating the impact of the upcoming recession by ensuring that consumption by the poorest and vulnerable contributes to the local economies" #EhsasProgram #coronavirus

The World Bank on Tuesday hailed Pakistan’s cash transfer emergency programme, saying it would be instrumental in mitigating the impact on the economy due to novel coronavirus.“Cash transfers will be instrumental in mitigating the impact of the upcoming recession by ensuring that consumption by the poorest and vulnerable contributes to the local economies,” the World Bank said in an article published on its website.

It suggested if the fiscal space allowed to the government, the emergency cash transfers should be considered as an optimal option to rejuvenate local economies.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced the country’s biggest ever Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme worth of Rs144 billion to disburse Rs12,000 each to 12 million beneficiaries who were stricken hard by the lockdown enforced due to coronavirus leading to worst economic impact to the country.

At a time when cash transfer programmes are the most widely used instruments to counter the socioeconomic fallout from the pandemic, the case of Pakistan provided a good insight to others, the article added. “No doubt this response was one of the best investments that a government could make in a crisis.The cash transfers provided purchasing power to people to meet their needs.

According to figures, nearly 24 per cent of Pakistan’s 210 million people are below the poverty line. The country requires a rapid response to protect its poor from becoming even worse off.

The national lockdown imposed on March 13 is a necessary pre-emptive step to contain the health emergency. But it compounds socioeconomic risks for the vulnerable who have lost their jobs or can’t access health and social programmes.

In addition, the pandemic puts women, who were already disadvantaged in the labor force, at greater risk as they carried the invisible burden of caring for the sick, elderly, and children.

One of Pakistan’s initial measures, with support from the World Bank, was to expand its national safety net institution, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), to direct additional support to its 4.5 million women beneficiaries.

The government also scaled up its flagship cash transfer program, Ehsaas Kafalat, to include 7.5 million additional vulnerable families affected by the crisis — thus increasing by 85 per cent its annual budget dedicated to cash transfers.

Pakistan’s quick action was possible because the country has invested in programmes like BISP and Ehsaas Kafalat which formed one of South Asia’s largest social safety net systems. They provide quick registration options and reliable payments through state-of-the-art biometric technology. Their online linkage to the national ID database helps prevent duplicate payments while ensuring transparency.

While these investments have achieved results, there was room for further improvement. A move towards a dynamic system for updating the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) and integration among social programme databases would help keep targeting data current and ensure a two-way flow of information.

Besides avoiding duplication of effort, a centralized and integrated social registry would also provide data for informed decisions regarding socio-economic policies and initiatives.

Along with this, the governments (federal and provincial) needed to expand the primary education and children health-related conditional cash transfers to integrate aspects of long-term human development and reduction of inter-generational poverty.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 5, 2020 at 4:34pm

#ContactTracing is central to #coronavirus strategy for governments globally, including #Italy and #Germany. Alarms are being raised in #Pakistan, where a lack of transparency and #digital #privacy standards risks undermining how the public is protected https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/pakistan-tech-coronavirus

Contact tracing has been a central plank of coronavirus strategy for governments around the world, including Italy and Germany. However, alarms have been raised in Pakistan, where a lack of transparency and digital privacy standards risks undermining how the public is protected.

While Pakistan currently has no data protection laws, the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication announced a call for consultation on a draft bill earlier this month.

To lead the tracing and quarantine strategy, the government has established a new data hub at the Covid-19 national command center in Islamabad. The center will collect information from the ISI’s tracking system and share details about coronavirus cases with Pakistan’s four provincial governments, information technology institutions, and civil and military organizations.

While specific details of how the tracking system functions remain unclear, the country’s national telecommunications regulator, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), has confirmed that it is assisting the government by using cell tower tracking to locate the mobile phones of infected individuals and send text messages advising them to self-isolate. According to PTA, around 560,000 at-risk people have been sent “CoronaAlert” text messages to date.

In Pakistan, licensed telecom providers such as cell phone companies are required to provide customer data to government agencies for national security purposes or when directed by PTA.

The text message initiative was launched in March by the prime minister’s Digital Pakistan unit, which is led by Tania Aidrus, a former head of Google’s Next Billion Users team, which makes products with emerging markets in mind.

In an interview, Aidrus said the authorities were using “multiple data points” for contact tracing. “The aim is to expand home testing and assessment in Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands people have used the various chatbots we have launched with the help of Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp to raise awareness and allow self-assessment.”

Aidrus also said the authorities are trying to find family information about Covid-19 patients by working with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), the citizen biometric data center with personal information of all 220 million Pakistani nationals.

Nadra has been subject to several major digital breaches in the past, including one incident in 2018 which saw the private data of individuals hacked and sold on Facebook and WhatsApp. Digital rights groups have called for more secure protection of the private data of Pakistani citizens. In a 2018 report on Nadra, Pakistan’s Digital Rights Foundation stated “The potential for misuse or problematic leaks here is substantial and is only exacerbated by the lack of data protection legislation in the country.”

While acknowledging the lack of data protection policies in Pakistan, Aidrus said she was “incredibly confident” about the responsible use of any public data collected during the current crisis.

However, privacy advocates warn that many countries using technology to limit the spread of Covid-19 are failing to provide adequate transparency.

“The scale and sophistication of surveillance technologies being rolled out in response to Covid-19 around the world could fundamentally threaten human rights in the future,” said Samuel Woodhams, who is tracking global Covid-19 surveillance measures for the website Top10VPN.

“Health authorities and governments should ensure they implement these initiatives with transparency, adequate sunset clauses and provide scope for public and political scrutiny. In countries that do not have well-defined personal privacy and human rights legislation, these concerns are considerably more acute.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 6, 2020 at 11:11am

#SiliconValley's Gilead Sciences in talks with #Pharmaceutical firms in #Pakistan, #India to start #Remdesivir production to treat #coronavirus. Gilead says it will provide appropriate #technology transfers to facilitate this production. #COVID https://www.dawn.com/news/1554986

US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences on Tuesday said that it was in talks with drug companies in Pakistan and India to start remdesivir production.

Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral drug used to treat patients with the coronavirus and was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Last month, Gilead said the drug had helped improve outcomes for patients with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and provided data suggesting it worked better when given earlier in the course of infection.

According to a statement on its website, Gilead Sciences "is negotiating long-term voluntary licenses with several generic drugmakers in India and Pakistan to produce remdesivir for developing countries. Gilead will provide appropriate technology transfers to facilitate this production".

The statement adds that the company's goal "is to make remdesivir both accessible and affordable to governments and patients around the world" and it plans to continue the production of the drug for "Europe, Asia and the developing world through at least 2022".

'Significant, positive effect in diminishing time to recovery'
A clinical trial of the drug remdesivir in the United States showed that patients recovered about 30 per cent faster than those on a placebo, in the first proof of successful treatment against the new disease.

“The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Anthony Fauci, the top US epidemiologist who oversaw the study, told reporters on Friday.

Fauci likened the finding to the first retrovirals that worked, albeit with modest success, against HIV in the 1980s.

However, remdesivir failed in trials against the Ebola virus and a smaller study, released last week by the World Health Organisation, found limited effects among patients in Wuhan, China, where the illness was first detected in December.

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    Biden's Gaza Ceasefire Veto Defies American Public Opinion

    Aaron Bushnell, an active serviceman in the United States Air Force, burned himself to death in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest against the US policy in Gaza. Before setting himself on fire in what he called an "extreme act of protest", he said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide". Polls show that the vast majority (63%) of Americans want an immediate end to the carnage being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.  …

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on February 27, 2024 at 5:30pm

    Pakistan Elections: Imran Khan's Supporters Skillfully Used Tech to Defy Powerful Military

    Independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party emerged as the largest single block with 93 seats in the nation's parliament in the general elections held on February 8, 2024.  This feat was accomplished in spite of huge obstacles thrown in front of the PTI's top leader Imran Khan and his party leaders and supporters by Pakistan's powerful military…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on February 16, 2024 at 9:22pm — 1 Comment

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