Call for preventive care to address health challenges

President Dr Arif Alvi has stressed the need for adopting preventive care to address the health-related challenges, especially oral diseases, in Pakistan, adding that over 90% of dental issues could be prevented by adopting healthy habits.

He said that a resource-constrained country like Pakistan couldn’t afford to provide curative care to such a large population, however, creating awareness could help reduce the disease burden on the country’s health sector.

The president expressed these views while addressing the National Health Summit organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).

Speaking on the occasion, he highlighted the importance of physical hygiene and said that from the Islamic teachings, it stood proved that personal hygiene was linked with spiritual purity.

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He said that poor dental health could lead to other problems, affecting the overall well-being of individuals. He said about 90 per cent of dental cases could be cured if prevention habits were developed by the people including regular brushing of teeth, similar was the case with communicable diseases.

The president urged all the stakeholders and the business community to play their role in creating awareness among the masses about health-related issues including dental health, mental stress and population growth. He said that the entire nation had set a precedent in the world with their collective efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed that such a display of unity was critical to addressing disconcerting issues in education, health and economic sectors.

The president highlighted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the deadly wave was hitting the globe, Pakistan emerged as the third best-performing country in the world to avert the damages in health and economic sectors.

He said it was all possible due to the collective efforts and cooperation of the people and all stakeholders who displayed unison in their efforts to ward off the spread of the pandemic.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2024.