Pakistan, April 8 -- Pakistan has made remarkable progress in the field of maternal and child health, yet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's admission on World Health Day rings painfully true: we still have a long way to go. While expanded immunization campaigns and rising institutional deliveries signal hope, statistics remain grim: 186 mothers die for every 100,000 live births, and 61 children under five perish for every 1,000 born alive.

Many would argue that our healthcare journey is one of contradictions. Since the 1990s, initiatives like the Lady Health Workers programme and the Benazir Income Support Programme's health card have laid critical groundwork yet fragmentation between federal and provincial authorities persists. Rural area...