Pakistan

Although health indicators are slowly improving in Pakistan, it is still unlikely to meet its Millennium Goal Targets by 2015. Major inequalities exist between rural and urban areas, and between rich and poor. Corruption is a major problem at all levels of the health system, from the regulatory level to the patient-facing level.

Pakistan is some way off achieving universal vaccination coverage, yet it still imposes a 6.66% tariff on imported vaccines. Medicines containing penicillin are taxed at a rate of 17.5%, which is unconscionable for a country with such a high burden of infectious disease. In 2003 the tariff rate for this class of medicine was 10%.