Achievements of healthcare services vis a vis the MDG targets: Evidence from Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of public healthcare facilities and socio-economic circumstances on the status of child health.

METHODS: The study was conducted at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. The human opportunity index framework was used to measure the trends in health inequalities and coverage using Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement dataset from year 2001-02 to 2012-13 at national and provincial levels. The health goals considered in this study were: reducing infant and child mortality rates and immunisation against measles and other major diseases such as diphtheria, polio, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, and hepatitis. Socio-economic variables such as age, household income, gender, mother's education, housing conditions, water and sanitation facilities, awareness of health services and provision of public hospitals, distance to and cost of immunisation were used to generate quantitative estimates..

RESULTS: The human opportunity index for reduction in child mortality rates improved for 6879(50.4%) mothers in 2001-02 to 8763(64.1%) in 2011-12. Similarly, immunisation against measles and other diseases also registered an improvement from 8430(51.6%) to 9495(69.9%) children during the period at national level.

CONCLUSIONS: Health indicators vis-à-vis the Millennium Development Goals targets showed improvement.