Higher and More Effective Spending on Education and Health Table 26.13: Trend in Health Indicators in Pakistan 2007-08 % of Children fully Immunized(%) 51 Male 52 Female 50 Infant Mortality 66 Male 78 Female 61 Source of Drinking Water(Piped) 36 Type of Toilet 66 Source: PBS 2013-14 76 77 76 65 70 61 26 74 2018-19 76 76 75 60 62 58 18 80 There are also large differences regionally in the health indicators. For example, the percentage of children fully immunized ranges from a high of 84 percent in Punjab to only 42 percent in Balochistan. The corresponding magnitudes for Sindh and Khyber­Pakhtunkhwa are 73 percent and 68 percent respectively. The coverage is 84 percent in urban areas of the country and 73 percent in the rural areas. The latest Household Integrated Economic Survey of 2018-19 by the PBS also reveals that the incidence of health expenditures is higher on poor households, in the first quintile. They are also constrained from access to hospitals at times of serious illness. Clearly, the universal insurance coverage against catastrophic illness must have the highest priority in Pakistan. 26.5. The COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst in the last century. Virtually all countries of the world have been hit. Pakistan has been through three attacks since the last week of February 2020. The peaks and troughs in weekly number of cases is presented in Table 26.14. Currently the fourth attack is approaching a peak. Table 26.14: Peaks and Troughs of COVID-19 Attack in Pakistan Period Peak/ Troughs 1 st Week of June 2020[Peak] 1 st Week of September 2020[Peak] 1 st Week of December 2020[Peak] 1 st Week of February 2021[Trough] 2 nd Week of April 2021[Peak] 3 rd Week of June 2021[Trough] Weekly Cases 40,287 2,972 21,865 8,497 39,858 6,674 275