NTDs in the age of urbanization, climate change, and conflict: Karachi, Pakistan as a case study

Fazal, Owais; Hotez, Peter J.

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008791

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This study was carried out in Karachi, the largest and most populous metropolitan city in Pakistan and the capital of Sindh province, with an estimated population of 23 million [ 17 ]. According to World Bank estimates, 22% of the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 [ 18 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring willingness to pay for health insurance and preferences for a benefits package from the perspective of women from low-income households of Karachi, Pakistan

Habib

Zaidi

2021

BMC Health Serv Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and reduction in out of pocket (OOP) expenditures on health, is a critical target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In low-middle income countries, micro-health insurance (MHI) schemes have emerged as a useful financing tool for laying grounds for Universal Health Coverage. The aim of this study was to provide evidence for designing a feasible health insurance scheme targeted at urban poor, by exploring preferences for an insurance benefits package and co-payments among women from low-income households in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted using household surveys between July–August 2015. A total of 167 female beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a large-scale cash transfer scheme targeted at low-income households, were recruited in Karachi through a mix of convenience and snowball sampling. Hypothetical insurance benefits packages for a prospective health insurance scheme were formulated to capture respondents’ preferences for health insurance benefits package and co-payments. All data was analyzed using Stata (version 13). Results Respondents reporting expenditure on OPD and hospitalization in the last 2 weeks were 93.4 and 11.9% respectively. The highest median expenditure was incurred on medicines. Out of the proposed benefits package, a majority (53%) of the study participants opted for the comprehensive benefits package that provided coverage for emergency care, hospitalization, OPD consultation, diagnostic tests and transportation. For the co-payment plan, 38.9% participants preferred no co-payments that is 100% insurance coverage of medicines followed by hospitalization (25.9%). Nearly half of the respondents (49.4%) chose outpatient consultation for 50% co-payment. A majority of the participants (65.3%) agreed to 100% co-payment for the transportation cost. Conclusion Health insurance schemes can be introduced in urban areas, against collection of micro-payments, to prevent low-income households from facing financial catastrophe. A comprehensive benefits package covering emergency care, hospitalization, OPD consultation, diagnostic tests and transportation, is the most preferred among low-income beneficiaries.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring willingness to pay for health insurance and preferences for a benefits package from the perspective of women from low-income households of Karachi, Pakistan

Habib

Zaidi

2021

BMC Health Serv Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The five ethnic groups mentioned above represent more than 95% of the country’s population and they reside in clusters in different regions of Karachi, hence besides being the largest, it is the most culturally diverse city of Pakistan, also known as Mini Pakistan, with a population over 16 million. 20 The study population was drawn from various catchment areas of Karachi including; Patel Para, Malir, Liyari, Sheerin Jinnah Colony, and North Nazimabad, that have a concentrated population of Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pushto, and Urdu speaking communities, respectively.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between Dietary Diversity and Food Insecurity in Urban Households: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Various Ethnic Populations of Karachi, Pakistan

Hashmi¹,

Safdar²,

Zaheer³

et al. 2021

RMHP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background and Purpose:The world is experiencing a nutritional transition, yet some regions of South East Asia are still living under the shadows of catastrophic nutritional indicators. Pakistan bears a high dual burden of both communicable and chronic diseases. However, a major contributing factor of both is poor diet and nutrition. The causal pathway of stunting, underweight, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies has beginnings in less dietary diversity and food insecurity. Current literature on Pakistan and other South Asian countries regarding food insecurity and dietary diversity largely focus on women and children aged less than 5 years; however, ethnic and cultural dynamics of the populace concerning their food and dietary practices in Pakistan have not been well explored. It is essential to have a clear insight into the factors involving malnutrition in different clusters, especially different cultures and ethnicities to target specific areas of interventional strategies versus a uniform approach for all. This study aimed to explore the level of food insecurity and dietary diversity in all major ethnic groups of Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan. Methods: Using the multistage random sampling, 535 households from five major ethnic groups residing in Karachi were included in the study. To measure food insecurity and dietary diversity (primary and secondary outcome, respectively), we used a FAO standardized questionnaire (version 3, 2007) that was translated first into local languages, piloted, and employed to collect information. Results: Severe food insecurity levels had an inverse relationship with the household dietary diversity, which persisted even after adjusting for other variables (β=−0.31, 95% CI=−0.65, −0.07). There was no statistically significant association of age, marital status, or education level on food diversity. The most food secure cultural people were those whose ancestors had migrated from India and were Urdu speaking communities, while Sindhi speakers were the least food secure community. Conclusion:It is imperative to investigate more on the cultural causal factors leading to food insecurity to address the root causes of malnutrition and design new cultural-specific interventions that should be employed in large urban centers where different communities reside together.

show abstract

“…In terms of population, Karachi in Sindh province is Pakistan's most populated city, with a population of more than 16 million people. Karachi is the only major port city on the Arabian Sea with approximately 30% of the nation's industrial sector which contributes more than 20% to the national GDP of Pakistan (Fazal and Hotez, 2020). However there are several other dense cities in Pakistan like Lahore and Faisalabad -that belong to Punjab which is a densely populated province and contributes 110 million people to the total population of Pakistan (Saddique et al, 2021).…”

Section: Population Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Climate Change Impacts and Tradeoffs Established Under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways of IPCC AR6 using A Moderate Resolution GCM viz. MRI-ESM2-0 of CMIP6 over Pakistan

Khan¹,

Wazir²,

Riaz³

et al. 2022

economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pakistan will be 100 years by the end of mid-21st century. Within its continued lifespan, it has borne witness to various climate change hazards exclusively conveyed under the umbrella of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports (ARs). Recently published IPCC’s AR6 establishes its distinctiveness by addressing co-benefits, risks, interactions, trade-offs and economic development factors associated with magnitude of climate change factors, both regionally and globally. With heavy exposure to climate change indications in recent times, implications of such factors to shared socioeconomic narratives needed attention, especially over Pakistan region. To address this, a moderate resolution General Circulation Model (GCM) viz. MRI-ESM2-0 of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) was engaged to detect magnitude of potential risks associated with five Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) in the future. Change in mean state of global climate extracted over local realm was integrated with Gantt-like charts to depict severity and abruptness of the studied pathways to potential threats and balances over provinces and regions of Pakistan. Results revealed realms of risk that potentially placed the provinces and the regions at par with globally provoked hazards, yet simultaneously co-befitted them with tradeoff of boosts in economic development based on fossil fuel investments. Nevertheless predictions of such nature are constrained with global and local policy interventions, and hence are conveyed as spectrum of potential implications of the global climate change on national realms in the future.

show abstract

NTDs in the age of urbanization, climate change, and conflict: Karachi, Pakistan as a case study

Cited by 23 publications

References 59 publications

Exploring willingness to pay for health insurance and preferences for a benefits package from the perspective of women from low-income households of Karachi, Pakistan

Exploring willingness to pay for health insurance and preferences for a benefits package from the perspective of women from low-income households of Karachi, Pakistan

Association between Dietary Diversity and Food Insecurity in Urban Households: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Various Ethnic Populations of Karachi, Pakistan

Identification of Climate Change Impacts and Tradeoffs Established Under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways of IPCC AR6 using A Moderate Resolution GCM viz. MRI-ESM2-0 of CMIP6 over Pakistan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About