SDGs Status Report 2021: Punjab, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (Part II)

In the case of SDG-2, the country has seen a decrease in the prevalence of undernourishment by 4.2 per cent in four years during 2015-19. According to the latest figures for 2019-20, 83.56 per cent of people are food secure in Pakistan. Regarding the prevalence of stunting, SDGs indicator 2.2.1, and the prevalence of stunting reduced to 37.6 per cent in 2017-18 from 44.8 per cent in 2012-13 at the national level. Despite this reduction, the situation remained alarming in some provinces and regions. Close to half of the children were stunted i.e. 47 per cent in Gilgit-Baltistan as compared to around 36.4 per cent in Punjab in 2017-18. The prevalence of malnutrition decreased between 2012-13 and 2017-18. Pakistan managed to reduce the prevalence of anaemia in women during pregnancy aged 15 to 49 years, between 2011 and 2018. According to the latest figures (2018), 43 per cent of non-pregnant women were anaemic, aged 15 to 49, which was 51 per cent in 2011. Despite overall improvement at the national level, the number of anaemic women (non-pregnant) increased in AJK (from 41.3 per cent to 56.4 per cent) and Gilgit-Baltistan (from 23.4 per cent to 36.1 per cent).

Moving on to SDG-3, at the national level, a 32.6 per cent welcoming reduction was observed in the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) to 186 per 100,000 live births in 2018-19 from 276 in 2006-07. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel improved by 10 per cent and reached 68 per cent in 2019-20 from 58 per cent in 2014-15. A slight reduction was also recorded in the under-5 mortality rate. The proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15- 49 years) who had their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods showed only a marginal improvement at the national level. The proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national programme showed an increase of 11.5 per cent reaching 65 per cent in 2017- 18 from 54 per cent in 2012-13. The coverage significantly increased in Punjab to 79.9 per cent from 65.5 per cent followed by GB and AJK.

Regarding SDG-4, performance in education-related indicators has been stagnating or marginally improving in the last five years. The completion rate of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education is alarming; this figure is stagnant at 67 per cent over the last five years. Similarly, the gender gap of nine per cent between the primary completion rate of males and females has also persisted in this period. Large regional disparities persist in primary completion rates across the provinces. In Punjab, 67 per cent of the children respectively completed their primary education in 2019-20. Only one per cent improvement was recorded in the literacy rate of the Punjab province, which increased from 63 per cent to 64 per cent between the same periods. Access to basic services in schools showed marginal improvement at national, provincial and area government levels, particularly at the level of primary schools. Less than two out of ten Primary schools in AJK schools had electricity in 2018-19 as per the report.

In terms of SDG-6, the population of the country with access to safely managed water sources was 35 per cent in 2018-19 and increased to 94per cent the following year. Pakistan is close to achieving universal access to improved drinking water. Among the provinces/regions, the highest proportion of the population using improved drinking water was in Punjab, 99 per cent, followed by Sindh 94 per cent, Baluchistan 84 per cent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 83 per cent. The data for GB and AJK is not available. Between 2014-15 and 2019-20, the sanitation services (flush facility) increased by 10 per cent at the national level. A deterioration of two per cent was observed over the last year (PSLM 2019-20). The situation in AJK and GB remained at 91 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively.

This analysis shows that Punjab, among all the rest of the regions, has fared better, ahead of GB and AJK. Overall, although due to a variety of reasons, Pakistan is still lagging behind the world in all major indicators, it has improved against a few indicators in the last five years. On the Global Index, Pakistan has an overall index score of 57.7 in 2021. The index score of 57.7 means that the country is, on average, 57.7 per cent on the way to the best possible outcome across the 17 SDGs. This score is 1.5 per cent higher than that was in 2020. Compared to 2020, Pakistan’s performance has increased by three per cent in the region. Despite the impact of Covid-19, Pakistan’s SDGs Global Rank is 129 (out of 193) in 2021. It has improved by five ranks, 134 (out of 166) in 2020. Compared to its neighbours, Bangladesh’s rank stayed at 109 during 2020 and 2021. India’s rank declined by three, from 117 to 120 during 2020-21.

The achievement of SDGs is manifested in the socio-economic development of Pakistan. This requires adopting an all-inclusive approach and that leaves no one out. This, in turn, depends on how the policies, strategies and plans are framed and implemented, besides requiring a whole-government approach. Apart from the requirement of greater financial resources, much is required in improving governance and service delivery. The employment of appropriate regulative, normative and cognitive approaches will also be helpful in this regard for changing mindsets to achieve SDGs Agenda. However, the recent flood fiasco has undoubtedly and considerably affected the future data collection as well as the overall progress on all the SDGs frontiers and we will be witnessing highly fluctuated data in upcoming months due to disruption caused by flood havoc.

(Concluded)