"SPECIALISED" · 총 27건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 81,850건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.3(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,159건(5.1%)·중립 75,662건(92.4%)·부정 2,029건(2.5%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.8(중도 균형)입니다.
Five girls, including June Jepkongei and Joan Njeri, were discharged from KNH after remarkable recoveries and returned home to their families with hope for healing.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday affirmed that achieving export-led growth targets was the government’s top priority, directing the National Tariff Commission (NTC) to play an active role in facilitating investors, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. According to the PMO, Prime Minister Shehbaz chaired a review meeting on overall economic growth and the implementation of the National Tariff Policy 2025-30 on Thursday. Prime Minister Shehbaz emphasised that the “active and transparent performance of the NTC was essential for the promotion of industry, trade and investment in the country”, the PMO added. He directed the NTC to play an active role in facilitating investors and industrialists. According to the PMO, the prime minister said the NTC should be modernised by adopting international best practices and using modern technology, including information technology and artificial intelligence. The PMO further said that the meeting was briefed on the implementation of the National Tariff Policy 2025-30. “The briefing stated that under the policy, tariffs for various sectors would be reduced gradually with the objective of achieving export-oriented economic growth targets,” the PMO said, adding that duties on reefer containers and semi-trailers would be abolished to promote and develop the logistics sector. “The briefing further stated that customs duties on specialised vehicles and machinery were being reduced to support the construction sector.” The PMO stated that customs duties on raw materials, particularly those used in cancer medicines, would also be abolished to facilitate the pharmaceutical sector. Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Climate Change Musadik Malik, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, and others attended the meeting.
The new ambulance is expected to play a role in transporting accident victims, pregnant women, newborns and infants requiring specialised care.
ISLAMABAD: The state-owned Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) on Wednesday said it made a significant oil and gas discovery from its exploratory well Bobi Deep-1, located in Sindh’s Sanghar district. The company is the country’s largest oil and gas producer and, in April this year, began commercial production from Pakistan’s largest-ever oil and gas discovery from a single well. In a statement issued today, OGDCL said the well successfully tested the Massive Sand interval of the Lower Goru Formation and produced 2,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 1.1 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) through a cased-hole Drill Stem Test (DST), confirming the hydrocarbon potential of the reservoir. A Drill Stem Test (DST) is a temporary well-completion procedure used in oil and gas exploration to assess the pressure, permeability and production potential of a geological formation. It helps determine whether a well has encountered a commercially viable reservoir without the need for costly permanent casing. “The achievement marks a major milestone for OGDCL as the first hydrocarbon discovery from the Massive Sand play within the Bobi and Dhamraki Mining Lease,” the company stated. “Beyond the discovery itself, the success has opened a new exploration window in the area, de-risking similar prospects in the surrounding region and creating opportunities for future reserve additions and resource growth,” said the oil company. The discovery is particularly significant because the project had previously encountered complex subsurface challenges that led to the suspension of drilling operations. “Rather than abandoning the prospect, OGDCL relied on indigenous expertise and adopted an innovative approach to address the issue,” it said. A multidisciplinary team of geoscientists and engineers collaborated with the Centre for Pure and Applied Geology at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, to investigate the formation through advanced geophysical surveys, subsurface studies and field evaluations. The joint effort led to the development of a comprehensive geological and geophysical model, enabling OGDC to de-risk the prospect and resume operations. Multiple engineering safeguards, specialised civil works and extensive technical evaluations were carried out before the drilling rig was redeployed and the target depth successfully reached. “The exploratory well Bobi Deep-1 success story stands as a testament to indigenous innovation, technical excellence and industry-academia collaboration. It demonstrates how local expertise can successfully resolve complex operational challenges and unlock new hydrocarbon resources for the country,” the company said. “The discovery is expected to contribute towards enhancing Pakistan’s indigenous oil and gas production, strengthening national energy security, reducing reliance on imported energy and augmenting the hydrocarbon reserves base of the country,” it concluded. Last April, OGDCL announced the successful revival of oil and gas production from Chak#2-2 well, a joint venture in the Sinjhoro Block in Sanghar. The Sinjhoro Block comprises OGDCL as the operator with a 62.5 per cent working interest, alongside Government Holdings (Pvt) Ltd (GHPL) with 22.5pc, and Orient Petroleum Inc. (OPI) holding a 15pc share.
Former SA Steel Mills owner Rafik Mohamed’s bail application was postponed until 4 June and the case transferred to the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court
New Delhi: Transrail Lighting, a leading turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, on Tuesday said it has bagged new orders worth Rs 575 crore primarily in the transmission and distribution (T&D), civil construction and pole business.As of March 31, the company's unexecuted order book (including L1 or Lowest Bidder position) stood at Rs 16,361 crore, up 12 per cent year-on-year, Transrail Lighting said in an exchange filing."The orders in the T&D segment including construction of a 500 kV HVDC line for a marquee customer, supply of our products in international markets, specialised civil construction job and pole supplies, highlights our diversified capabilities and competencies," the company's MD & CEO Randeep Narang said.Mumbai-based Transrail Lighting is an EPC company primarily engaged in T&D with operations spanning civil, railways, poles and lighting segments. The company has a presence across 63 countries.For FY26, the company posted a net profit of Rs 403.59 crore, up 23 per cent from Rs 328.68 crore in 2024-25. Its total income also rose over 29 per cent to Rs 6,928.83 crore from Rs 5,353 crore in FY25.
A medical officer said the woman had sustained a serious gunshot injury and was referred to a specialised medical centre in view of her critical condition
Under the weight of sustained US export controls on advanced semiconductors, China’s AI chipmakers are battling to forge a self-reliant silicon ecosystem capable of breaking Nvidia’s stranglehold on the market. At the centre of this rivalry is a fundamental design debate: Should the country rely on the versatile graphics processing unit (GPU) or pivot to the highly specialised application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)? The fight is no longer about finding a single Nvidia clone; it is about...
Rescue personnel used specialised equipment to extricate victims trapped inside the mangled autorickshaw.
Artificial intelligence is getting expensive — and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the disruptive technology. Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, AI companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. Kevin Simback of startup incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of “subsidised intelligence” — meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap. “But the tides are beginning to turn,” Simback warned and an era where the big AI companies actually need to make money has begun — with leaders OpenAI and Anthropic looking to go public and attract main street investors later this year. Prices are rising across the board, and one big reason is AI agents. Unlike a chatbot that just answers questions, agents actually do things — book appointments, write code, manage files. And they’re expensive to run, because one task can spin up dozens of agents all working at once, each racking up charges. Those charges are measured in tokens — the basic unit AI companies use to bill customers. A single agent-powered task can burn through dozens of times’ more tokens than a simple chat message. Meanwhile, the computer chips and data centres needed to power all this AI can’t keep up with demand, creating computing shortages and adding further uncertainty to the nascent industry. “Especially in developer circles, the cost to use AI for things like coding has grown exponentially,” said Mark Barton of tech consultancy Omniux. “All the costs are really starting to skyrocket.” Some companies have been so eager to use AI that they’ve gone overboard in a usage binge called “tokenmaxxing”. “In some cases, people are seeing the cost of tokens exceed the cost of the employee within a month or two of use, just because they’re using it too much,” says analyst Jack Gold of J.Gold Associates. Smarter spending Even Meta — which earlier this year encouraged employees to use as many tokens as possible as a measure of productivity — has had second thoughts. “Nobody should be using AI tools just for the sake of using them,” chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth wrote in a memo to staff, reported by the Wall Street Journal. Uber’s chief operating officer this week went a step further, raising eyebrows by saying all this AI spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity. To cut costs, some companies are switching to free, open-source AI models that anyone can download — not as powerful as ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, but good enough for many tasks. Others are moving to smaller, more specialised models built for specific industries like real estate or finance, rather than giant general-purpose ones. And some are simply breaking big AI tasks into smaller steps, handing each piece to the cheapest model that can handle it. The price difference can be dramatic. “The big large monolithic model, it’s $15 per million tokens, but you can get that down to like five cents if you use the smaller mini model,” says Adrian Balfour of consultancy Enverso. All of this points to AI becoming more like a commodity — where the specific model matters less than finding the right one at the right price. But don’t count out the big players and their state-of-the-art models just yet. “The most advanced users” will always be willing to pay for the best, says John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. “It’s a growing pie.”
Artificial intelligence is getting expensive — and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the disruptive technology. Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, AI companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. Kevin Simback of startup incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of “subsidised intelligence” — meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap. “But the tides are beginning to turn,” Simback warned and an era where the big AI companies actually need to make money has begun — with leaders OpenAI and Anthropic looking to go public and attract main street investors later this year. Prices are rising across the board, and one big reason is AI agents. Unlike a chatbot that just answers questions, agents actually do things — book appointments, write code, manage files. And they’re expensive to run, because one task can spin up dozens of agents all working at once, each racking up charges. Those charges are measured in tokens — the basic unit AI companies use to bill customers. A single agent-powered task can burn through dozens of times’ more tokens than a simple chat message. Meanwhile, the computer chips and data centres needed to power all this AI can’t keep up with demand, creating computing shortages and adding further uncertainty to the nascent industry. “Especially in developer circles, the cost to use AI for things like coding has grown exponentially,” said Mark Barton of tech consultancy Omniux. “All the costs are really starting to skyrocket.” Some companies have been so eager to use AI that they’ve gone overboard in a usage binge called “tokenmaxxing”. “In some cases, people are seeing the cost of tokens exceed the cost of the employee within a month or two of use, just because they’re using it too much,” says analyst Jack Gold of J.Gold Associates. Smarter spending Even Meta — which earlier this year encouraged employees to use as many tokens as possible as a measure of productivity — has had second thoughts. “Nobody should be using AI tools just for the sake of using them,” chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth wrote in a memo to staff, reported by the Wall Street Journal. Uber’s chief operating officer this week went a step further, raising eyebrows by saying all this AI spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity. To cut costs, some companies are switching to free, open-source AI models that anyone can download — not as powerful as ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, but good enough for many tasks. Others are moving to smaller, more specialised models built for specific industries like real estate or finance, rather than giant general-purpose ones. And some are simply breaking big AI tasks into smaller steps, handing each piece to the cheapest model that can handle it. The price difference can be dramatic. “The big large monolithic model, it’s $15 per million tokens, but you can get that down to like five cents if you use the smaller mini model,” says Adrian Balfour of consultancy Enverso. All of this points to AI becoming more like a commodity — where the specific model matters less than finding the right one at the right price. But don’t count out the big players and their state-of-the-art models just yet. “The most advanced users” will always be willing to pay for the best, says John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. “It’s a growing pie.”
Defence Intelligence of Ukraine uses hundreds of decoy drones during deep-strike attacks on Russia, CNN reports. Specialised software allows drone operators to manage thousands of UAVs.
Hong Kong's legal professionals are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between the different legal systems used in the city and Central Asia, according to the president of the Law Society of Hong Kong. Roden Tong will be part of Chief Executive John Lee's delegation to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. While Hong Kong practises common law under "One Country, Two Systems", most Central Asian jurisdictions follow civil law traditions. Speaking to RTHK ahead of the trip, Tong said Hong Kong's legal sector could play a "pivotal role" in facilitating investment between the two markets — pointing to a little-known common law enclave in the heart of Central Asia. He was referring to the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) in Kazakhstan that opened in 2018. "They adopt common law within the AIFC," Tong said. "That is quite very similar to Hong Kong." The AIFC features an independent court system whose judges are predominantly from the United Kingdom, creating a legal environment Tong described as "very equivalent to Hong Kong". The president revealed the Law Society has been building ties with the region since 2016, and signed a memorandum of understanding with the AIFC in 2022. "Hopefully during this delegation, on this occasion, we can further explore more business opportunities for the entire business sector," he said. Tong drew parallels with Dubai, where its international financial centre also operates under a common law system — a model Hong Kong legal professionals have already navigated successfully. For Central Asian companies looking to invest in Hong Kong and access the mainland Chinese market, Tong said the city's legal infrastructure offers several distinct advantages. Hong Kong's dual-language capability — English, Cantonese and Mandarin — provides certainty and predictability for international businesses, he said, particularly in dispute resolution, arbitration and mediation. Tong also pointed to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (Cepa), where overseas companies partnering with Hong Kong firms can adopt common law in the Greater Bay Area — complete with tax incentives. The recent establishment of the International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed) headquarters in Hong Kong adds another layer of appeal as well, Tong said. The Law Society recently met with Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui and IOMed Secretary-General Teresa Cheng to discuss creating a specialised mediation panel for commodities trading. "This is something that, if at the end of the day, there's any disputes or even in the contractual formulation... Hong Kong legal professionals can actually play this pivotal role," Tong said. Edited by Raymond Yeung
Calling for a major shift in policing priorities, DGP Anand unveiled a reform agenda for the Telangana Police, proposing new specialised wings, a technology overhaul, stricter accountability measures and a review of anti-Naxal units.
The Excise dept. will be rebuilt as a modern, intelligence-driven and technology-enabled institution that is focused on public welfare, youth protection and transparent governance. A dedicated State Narcotic Enforcement Bureau will be established for specialised enforcement, including cyber surveillance of online drug networks.
Biological samples from the dead cubs have been dispatched to the specialised state laboratory.
Country: South Sudan Source: World Food Programme AKOBO, South Sudan - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has scaled-up its emergency response in Akobo East, South Sudan, delivering vital food and nutrition assistance to hundreds of thousands of people facing catastrophic hunger and malnutrition, even as insecurity, infrastructure damage and the onset of the rainy season continue to hamper operations. “The situation is critical and demands immediate attention to save lives of people who desperately need assistance,” said Mutinta Chimuka, WFP Country Director in South Sudan. “Our hope is to continue to reach people in need. Sustained safety and security of humanitarians and humanitarian cargo is therefore crucial to allow us to ramp up assistance and effectively reach all those in need.” Here are the latest updates on food security and WFP operations in Akobo, South Sudan: Food Security Situation in Akobo: According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update, parts of Akobo County are experiencing IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) – one of four counties at risk of famine if conditions deteriorate. An estimated 97,000 people are projected to face IPC Phase 3 (Crisis), 85,000 Phase 4 (Emergency), and 12,000 Phase 5 (Catastrophe) through July The malnutrition crisis has worsened to IPC Acute Malnutrition Phase 5 (Extremely Critical), driven by displacement, loss of livelihoods, disruption to health and nutrition services, and increased disease risks due to overcrowding. Severe malnutrition among children under five and breastfeeding mothers is rising sharply, fuelling fears of famine-like conditions developing in the region. Ongoing conflict has already displaced approximately 142,000 individuals from Akobo County and surrounding areas, with 100,000 having crossed into neighbouring Ethiopia. The collapse of local markets due to conflict and looting has severely restricted access to food supplies. WFP Operations in Akobo: Since launching its emergency response three weeks ago, WFP has reached more than 60,000 vulnerable people in Akobo including: More than 15,000 people with emergency food assistance Close to 6,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women with nutrition commodities and Over 30,000 people with High Energy Biscuits (HEB), a vital source of nutrition for people on the move. More than 6,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women with specialized nutritious foods – part of a blanket supplementary feeding programme. WFP and partners have also conducted nutrition screenings for 15,000 children and admitted 3,000 children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). WFP’s supply chain coordination and delivery continues to enable the scale up, including: Delivery of 25 metric tons of fortified biscuits and specialised nutritious foods, including airlifting 14.5 metric tons to frontline warehouses. Transport of 300 metric tons of mixed commodities for General food assistance and Nutrition to Akobo by air. A 33-truck convoy from WFP and the Logistics Cluster to deliver over 200 metric tons of food assistance, nutrition supplies, and 100 metric tons of relief items by this week. This may be the final road convoy before heavy rains render key roads impassable. More than 60 flights by WFP Aviation including airdrops, airlifts, and UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) passenger flights transporting 430 MT of critical assistance. UNHAS has also transported more than 200 aid workers into and out of the area. Increasing WFP-managed UNHAS flights to three times per week. During the rainy season, when overland transport becomes unfeasible, WFP will continue supporting Akobo through air deliveries to ensure uninterrupted food assistance. Challenges and Funding requirements While access in Akobo has recently improved, delivering life-saving assistance has relied heavily on costly air operations due to persistent insecurity. The risk of renewed fighting is real. We need hostilities to end and humanitarians must have continued secure access to ensure civilians can safely receive vital assistance. The sustained and consistent delivery of critical services and support to communities is paramount for recovery and rebuilding livelihoods. WFP is deeply concerned about the many vulnerable people trapped in inaccessible regions, where hunger and malnutrition is likely to worsen during the fast-approaching lean season. WFP urgently requires USD 266 million to continue life-saving food, nutrition assistance, as well as support to the humanitarian community in South Sudan in 2026. # # # Note to editors: Broadcast quality footage available, please contact wfp.media@wfp.org. The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, via @wfp @wfp_Africa @wfp_SouthSudan For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org): Tomson Phiri, WFP/Juba, +211 928 008 037 Azfar Deen, WFP/Nairobi +39 345 846 6425 Julian Miglierini, WFP/ Rome, Mob. +39 348 2316793 Martin Rentsch, WFP/Berlin, Mob +49 160 99 26 17 30 Shaza Moghraby, WFP/New York, Mob. + 1 929 289 9867 Rene McGuffin, WFP/ Washington Mob. +1 771 245 4268 Nicola Kelly, WFP/London, Mob +44 (0)796 8008 474
Measles in the US, a cholera outbreak in the DRC, TB patient registration drops in Cambodia, Kenya, and Mozambique and closer to home, HIV outbreaks in children have all been linked to what doctors have warned are cuts to programmes and disastrous policy changes. Global funding has shrunk for healthcare across countries that need it the most which is why experts in Pakistan are really getting worried. The effects are immediately clear on the ground. In the busy streets of Lyari, Karachi, Amna Sualeh once navigated confidently through her community as a health worker with the Greenstar Social Marketing’s Sitara Baji (star sister) programme. Women trusted her to provide affordable intrauterine devices (IUDs), counselling on how to space out their children, and basic reproductive health services. “Before, with donor support, we could perform IUD insertions for just Rs500,” she says. “Now it costs up to Rs10,000 in private clinics. Many simply can’t afford it anymore.” Her clients, mostly working-class mothers, have begun skipping visits or turning to unsafe alternatives. As Pakistan’s macroeconomic crisis stretches out, many women have stopped coming altogether as their incomes have shrunk. This refrain is repeated across the provinces as overseas development assistance, once an indispensable backbone of the country’s public health system, contracts sharply. While not a principal focus of the global conversation on the impact of the Great Aid Recession, Pakistan enters the second quarter of the 21st century with its health system already stretched thin. It spends just 0.9 per cent of its GDP on public health, far below the WHO’s 5pc benchmark for universal health coverage. Life expectancy is 67.3 years, which is four years below the South Asian average, and conversely, infant and maternal mortality remain stubbornly high at 50.1 deaths per 1,000 live births and 155 deaths per 100,000 live births, respectively, more than double the rates of neighbours such as Bangladesh and Nepal. These outcomes reflect chronic underinvestment, rigid budgetary structures, and a system that has long relied on overseas technical and financial assistance for crucial health functions that domestic resources have not historically covered. For years, overseas development assistance, including both on-budget funds that flowed through government budgets and off-budget funds directed to NGOs, helped bridge key gaps in the system. While it comprised only a small proportion (around 1pc) of public health spending, much of this assistance was for crucial system functions that have historically been underserved in government budgets and policy. This is particularly true for funding from Global Health Initiatives (GHIs), specialised international financing mechanisms that support priority health programmes around the world, through organisations such as the Global Fund for TB, AIDS and Malaria and Gavi. In Pakistan, this support included the less visible aspects of health, such as supply chain logistics, cold chain management and storage, commodity procurement, monitoring support, and technical capacity building across key programmes like mother and child health, family planning, immunisation, HIV-AIDS, malaria and TB. As laid out in a recent report by think tank Tabadlab, the unprecedented global aid retrenchment crisis that has enveloped the world since 2025 has hit many of these programmes hard. USAID’s suspension led to the closure of over 60 UNFPA-run health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, directly disrupting care for 1.7 million people and halting HIV-AIDS programmes in Sindh that were providing life-saving medications to patients. Screengrab from Tabadlab research paper on aid cuts. This was followed by reductions in financial commitments in Pakistan from multilateral GHI donors such as Gavi and The Global Fund, as finances were redistributed across regions and priorities. Drawdowns in Gavi affected vaccination programmes caused layoffs of over 200 vaccinators in Lahore alone. A $27.2 million Global Fund reduction halved TB support in multiple provinces, cut diagnostic kit financing by 75pc, and placed treatment for over 42,000 HIV-positive patients at risk. Across the board, these cuts are eroding important nodes of the health system for which ODA had earlier provided the systemic architecture and connective tissue. Preventative healthcare’s invisible erosion Preventative health programmes—long under-prioritised in domestic health budgets and rarely accorded priority by local politicians and policymakers who tend to focus resources on visible infrastructure—have been disproportionately impacted. Organisations like the Global Fund helped develop monitoring and surveillance systems and trained thousands of frontline workers to prevent and monitor the spread of communicable diseases. Over the past year, many of these programs have been terminated. Dr Ilyas Gondal, former director general of health in Punjab, oversaw the administration of these programmes firsthand. “Preventative healthcare has not been given its due importance here,” he observes. “Donors filled critical gaps in programmes such as the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI), AIDS, Hepatitis and TB through support for training, outreach, health awareness, literature, and logistics. Now, most of that work has stopped across all of these programmes.” Dr Gondal fears that progress on coverage for vaccine-preventable diseases could be reversed if no arrangements are made for alternative financing. Ejaz Mahmood, a community health worker at Indus Hospital in Faisalabad, worked with the Global Fund-supported Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programme, which trained 10,000 frontline workers in standard operating procedures for infection prevention across the country and developed IPC committees following the Covid-19 pandemic. He describes how most of those IPC committees have now become non-functional, and critical infection prevention training has been abandoned. “No one is there to train health workers anymore. We are already seeing needle-stick injuries rising, with over 111 such cases in Faisalabad this year, along with rising cases of HIV-AIDS and Hepatitis B.” Screengrab from Tabadlab research paper on ODA cuts on Pakistan’s health system. Some of the fallout of such crucial programmes being abandoned may already be contributing to disease outbreaks. Over the past year, Pakistan has witnessed one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region, with a 200pc rise in infections between 2010 and 2024. Recent media investigations in Punjab and Sindh uncovered multiple HIV outbreaks originating from health facilities that disproportionately affected children, with the reuse of syringes, non-screening of blood samples, and other unsafe medical and waste management practices identified as the causes. As donors that were crucial in enabling preventative interventions and programmes draw down support, the risk of such outbreaks is likely to increase, unless the funding and institutional structures for these programmes are sustained or replaced with domestic capacity and resources. Tuberculosis detection and treatment in jeopardy Pakistan ranks fifth globally in TB burden, with nearly 650,000 cases and 70,000 deaths annually; over half of cases go undetected. Provincial TB control programmes have long depended on donors for the bulk of programme funding. While provincial governments contribute brick-and-mortar infrastructure for these projects, organisations like The Global Fund financed everything from service delivery to detection and surveillance to commodity stocks. Dr Sher Afghan, director of the TB Control Programme in Balochistan, is direct about the scale of the crisis: “We currently face an 80pc funding gap.” The cuts resulted in a 50pc reduction in programme human resources. “We have had to halve monitoring and surveillance staff, postpone prevalence surveys, and capacity building programmes that were training 800 workers a year.” In resource-strapped provinces with unique geographical access challenges like Balochistan, this has made TB detection increasingly difficult. Programme administrators like Dr Afghan are concerned about the increased risk of undetected transmission. “Every TB-positive patient who is not treated spreads the disease to 12 people on average. Thus, every undiagnosed case means potentially 13 undiagnosed cases.” The Global Fund cut has also triggered a 50pc reduction in district-level monitoring and community interventions staff in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, alongside a 75pc cut in diagnostic testing kits and the elimination of capacity-building. Utilisation of USAID in Pakistan’s healthcare system Life and healthcare programmes; primary healthcare in erstwhile FATA and frontier regions; childhood and neonatal support; malaria control. Screengrab from PIDE research paper on foreign aid, donors and consultants. Babar Shigri, former programme management specialist with USAID Pakistan, observed the impact of donor withdrawal firsthand. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, USAID supported TB programmes with contact tracing, pharmaceutical products, community mobilisation and management information systems that improved detection rates. “It’s not about funding alone,” he says. “When USAID left, work slowed down overall as one of the main actors driving and coordinating advocacy was gone.” In Balochistan, Dr Sher Afghan is cautiously optimistic that the government will step up to the challenge and is working on creating budgetary space for the programme. But with the sudden shock to a system long dependent on donor-led systems, there is a risk of systemic collapse to the programme unless there is rapid action to create fiscal and institutional mechanisms for transitional planning. Family planning being priced out of access Family planning programmes have been among the hardest hit. Through off-budget ODA, donors like USAID supported access by underwriting everything from supply chains to capacity building for large non-governmental family planning providers such as Greenstar Social Marketing and Rahnuma FPAP. When funding evaporated, the effects were immediate. Dr Syed Azizur Rab, CEO of Greenstar Social Marketing Pakistan, describes a donor-supported network that enabled underserved rural and working-class communities to access contraceptives and SRH services nationwide. “Donor support covered functions ranging from commodity subsidies, training, and logistics to community outreach and monitoring,” he explains. With that support gone, clinics have had to raise fees to cover costs and scaled back services. Screengrab from PIDE research paper on foreign aid, donors and consultants. Access to contraceptives, particularly long-acting ones like IUCDs and implants has been severely affected. According to Dr Rab, due to a lack of domestic production and rising costs of imports, “without donor subsidies, implants and IUCDs in private are simply commercially non-viable.” This effect has been compounded by increased taxes on contraceptives by the government as a revenue measure, further pricing them out of reach amid a prolonged inflationary crisis. Greenstar-affiliated clinicians such as Amna Sualeh now watch clients weigh the increased cost of an IUCD against tighter household budgets. Many are now forgoing modern contraceptive methods altogether and having unintended pregnancies as a result. In Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Noreen Nasir, a lady health visitor and midwife with over two decades of experience, worked for years as a family planning provider with USAID’s now-terminated Building Healthier Families programme. The project supported training and diagnostics, IUCDs, injections and implants for women in working-class neighbourhoods. “We used to be able to provide these commodities and services at a very minimal cost because of donor support,” she says. “Now we have to charge for them and face frequent shortages of implants and injections. At times, I pay for delivery kits out of my own pocket because the client can’t afford them and the delivery would be riskier otherwise.” As a result of the loss of support, she says, increasing numbers of women are turning to unqualified providers and stocks of key family planning products have fallen short. According to Noreen, the loss of access to affordable natal and post-natal care is also affecting infant nutrition, with reduced breastfeeding rates and rising underweight deliveries in the community she serves. Rahnuma FPAP, one of the country’s largest reproductive health networks, has closed dozens of centres. District Programme Manager Farrukh Bashir is pessimistic in his assessment: “When the funding stopped, all project beneficiaries lost access, and we had to close all donor-supported clinics. In facilities where we used to have three doctors, we now have just one. Doctor-client ratios have worsened across the board, and thousands of women from working-class communities have lost reliable sexual and reproductive health care.” Mother and child health fragile gains at risk The cuts have also severely impacted mother and child health programs and services in a country that has long had some of the worst maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes in Asia. Donor financing for these programmes was critical in reducing maternal mortality across the country (from 276 per 100,000 births in 2006 to 155 by 2024). ODA for it was particularly important for remote and marginalised regions of provinces such as Balochistan, where access to facility-based maternal and child healthcare is limited amid resource and geographical access challenges. Community health worker Shazia Ahmad worked with the EU-ECHO project, which helped upgrade basic health units and hospitals in underserved districts, and provided delivery kits, folic acid, nutrition advice, breastfeeding support and health awareness sessions. “The project was very well received in the communities, and we registered over 100,000 women. We were conducting health screenings for mothers and children while also providing nutrition supplements in districts with the highest malnutrition rates in the country.” Screengrab from PIDE research paper on foreign aid, donors and consultants. But with the termination of the project, medicines and services have been halved, and more layoffs are planned. Shazia worries about reversing the substantive gains they had made in rural communities in Balochistan. “The project was very popular with communities, and we were already seeing genuine behavioural change. Now all that work is at risk, and we are unable to follow up on the healthcare needs we had identified.” In a Rahnuma clinic in a working-class neighbourhood in Faisalabad, Punjab, Dr Amna Ehsan once operated under a “no refusal” policy with low charges for marginalised women. Donor funds allowed subsidised medicines and gynaecological OPD services. Now services are being privatised, and fees are rising. “We had very low charges and could provide low-cost medicines which were affordable for the marginalised communities we work in,” she says. Patient volumes, faced with increased fees for services and medicines, have slowed to a trickle. Systemic vulnerabilities and the transition challenge These individual stories of the struggles of health workers and administrators in the face of ODA cuts illustrate the broader structural problems documented in recent analyses of Pakistan’s health system and financing. As is clear, the impact is not just fiscal but functional. ODA, particularly off-budget flows through Global Health Initiatives, were critical for crucial health system functions that public budgets cover only partially or not at all. Bilateral cuts such as the USAID suspension have produced “cliff-edge” disruptions—abrupt programme discontinuities without transitional periods or buffers. Multilateral financing reductions have eroded the infrastructure of vertical disease programmes, including for commodities, diagnostics, surveillance and field operations. Commodity supply chains are particularly vulnerable. Donors handled pooled procurement that secured steep discounts on vaccines, TB drugs and diagnostics. As things stand, domestic systems lack the fiscal flexibility, technical capacity and regulatory agility to absorb these functions quickly. Further, technical assistance withdrawal is eroding surveillance, monitoring, data systems and planning capacity. The result is not total collapse or catastrophe but precise ruptures: stockouts, shortages, laid-off outreach workers, broken referral chains and rising exposure to out-of-pocket costs that can push families deeper into poverty and raise the underappreciated risk of disease outbreaks. While the risks are very real, the current moment also presents an opportunity for the kind of structural change that Pakistan’s health system has long needed. However, the government’s response must move beyond emergency and ad-hoc plugging of gaps and outbreak controls towards transition planning. If governments demonstrate adequate initiative and come together to coordinate, assess and fill these financing gaps, we can secure and build on the fragile health gains of recent years. At Greenstar, Dr Azizur Rab sees this moment as a reform opportunity that could build on what already exists: “The federal and provincial governments will have to look at the models already created with donor money and scale them up. However, this requires government ownership and political will.” If Pakistan seizes the crisis as a catalyst for functional transition—from donor dependence to resilience and sustainability—it can build a fully domestically financed health system capable of protecting the most vulnerable while also preventing outbreaks and creating effective local referral systems and commodity supply chains. The choice, and the cost of inaction, will be measured in lives and in the hard-won public health gains now hanging in the balance.
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KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — The National Anti-Drug Agency (Nada) will begin using specialised testing kits nationwide n...