COVID-19 in Pakistan: Challenges and priorities

Abstract Abstract: COVID-19 has big health issues which affect worldwide beyond their borders, race, and ethnicity. All the countries faced this pandemic challenge but most of the underdeveloped countries are facing more dangerous situations due to limited financial and health infrastructure to respond against it. Overall, more than 100 million people are affected by the Novel Virus which results in 2.15 million people dying within a small interval of time. The current pandemic has brought unpredicted challenges to societies and also threatened humanity and global resilience. According to the National Command Operation Center, Pakistan, more than 0.534 million people are suffering with COVID-19 with more than 11 thousand deaths across the country. The Government of Pakistan has taken different initiatives like complete and smart lockdown to control the pandemic as much as possible. After the removal of the first lockdown, the high peak was observed across the country and created a panic situation among people and the government again closed all the educational and religious institutions with immediate effect to tackle the second wave of pandemic. Further, the interconnected nature of COVID-19 crises demands an integrated approach and coordination between all stakeholders to handle the pandemic in a significant way. Identifying the best set of policies and guidelines to handle COVID-19 challenges, and align them for the sustainable recovery from pandemic. The basic challenge facing the policy makers of underdeveloped countries is how to utilize limited resources to achieve interconnected goals for managing health recovery, economic crises, and creating environmental sustainability. We present a framework for identifying and prioritizing policy action to address COVID-19 and ensure sustainable recovery. The framework outlines principles and criteria, and shared policy goals, identifying smart strategies, accessing policy compatibility, aligning policy instruments and improving sustainability in short and long term policy decisions. This framework can be helpful for policy makers in the short and long run for mapping policy options and accessing cross-sectoral implementation. This framework is also helpful for policy makers to prioritize policy choice and allocate limited resources in such a way that they are directed toward actions and achieve interconnected solutions of health, economy, and environment.