Pakistan, April 18 -- As if Pakistan needed any further reminder of how its public healthcare system continued to fail its citizens, an alarming report from the World Health Organisation points to its emergence as the unfortunate frontrunner in the battle against viral hepatitis C. With one in every 20 Pakistanis already infected and the general prevalence said to be at over 11 percent of the adult population, the country now faces a formidable public health crisis that demands immediate attention.

These numbers are not merely statistics. They relate to the unimaginable suffering experienced by countless Pakistanis and their families. Hepatitis C is feared as a silent predator: slowly eroding the health of millions, often without noticea...